On the 30 June, Stella Assange and her two children were granted a private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican. Mrs Assange has reported that the Pope is well aware of the urgency of the situation her husband Julian is in, as he awaits his appeal against extradition from England to the United States to face charges of violations of the US’s 1917 Espionage Act.
To his defenders Julian Assange is being persecuted simply for revealing uncomfortable truths about the way the US and other countries wage war and hide from the general public the means they use to do so. US prosecutors allege that he enticed Chelsea Manning, a US soldier, to obtain classified military documents which were later published by Assange’s Wikileaks organisation.
Julian Assange has, for the last four years, been incarcerated at the maximum-security HM Belmarsh Prison and is now being exclusively held in relation to an extradition request from the US Government.
During this time, there have been a number of reports that both Julian and Stella Assange have, throughout this ordeal, found Catholic practice a great solace.
In light of her audience with Pope Francis last week, I caught up with Stella Assange in London earlier today to ask her about her own faith and the role that faith has played throughout the ordeal.
Anthony McCarthy (AM)
Can you tell us what the audience with the Pope meant to you and your children?
Stella Assange (SA)
The audience with the Pope was a moment of humanity and compassion at a human level and contrasted with much of the day-to-day fight where we are confronted with the opposite. The prison, which is a place that we spend a lot of time, and which Julian is in all the time, is where humanity and compassion and dignity is denied in a systematic way. We felt the exact opposite in meeting with Pope Francis, where we were greeted with great warmth. I have huge respect for Pope Francis and I am very grateful that he allowed for this meeting to be publicised.
AM
Can you tell us more about what the Pope’s letter to Julian meant to him at the time it was received?
SA
The Pope sent a message in March 2021 to Julian via the Catholic chaplain of the prison. It came at an especially low point, as the lower court in UK had ruled that Julian’s treatment in the US would not be humane, but the court, despite this finding, did not grant him bail. The letter was a significant event and it was very important to Julian that he received this message, which also coincided with some very difficult days – he had lost one of his close friends to suicide in the prison just a couple of months previously and it was during the cCvid lockdown period, so there was much isolation. While these communications are private there is much significance in these gestures and Julian has found much comfort from the pastoral care of the Catholic chaplain at Belmarsh, who also blessed our wedding. It was this same chaplain who verbally read to Julian the Pope’s message through the prison door.
AM
Can you tell us a little about your faith background and has this case changed your attitude to the faith you were brought up in?
SA
When you are caught up in a situation like this you go through a process and you reflect on the importance of compassion and human connection and finding people who have faith of some kind. Julian is confronted with an inhuman situation where the forces against him aren’t just individuals – it’s an institutional crackdown on him. I really think that the way to defeat this kind of disembodied evil is for people to come together who understand and have a basic and natural instinct for justice and compassion for other people whom they don’t necessarily know. There has been huge support from around the world from communities of faith – the Latin American support is enormous. I have found, through this whole process, that I feel more connected than ever to other people and have also gained a deeper understanding of my own spirituality. You try to find meaning and guidance when you go through difficulties in your life. And you find this partly through faith.
I have thought much about the contrast between hope and faith. A lot of people talk about hope, but I think that hope can sometimes make you passive, whereas faith involves more agency and is more holistic.
Being from a Catholic background, that is my home in terms of faith.
AM
Is it true that Julian Assange does the Way of St James (Camino de Santiago) pilgrimage in his prison cell?
SA
This is something Julian’s father, John Shipton, first thought of. John has wanted to do the Camino for a long time and he discussed it with his son. Julian paces up and down his cell for hours and hours and it’s easier to do this if you have a purpose. He has books about the pilgrimage and has written distances on his wall between locations on the pilgrimage. He has worn out two pairs of trainers doing these pacings!
AM
Has the ordeal changed your attitude to faith? Did these events make you reconsider the faith of your childhood?
SA
I certainly look at the Gospels differently, with more of an appreciation of the link between suffering and truth. I am more aware that persecution hasn’t changed – it is an age-old practice. You can see the parallels with Pilate washing his hands and what is happening now.
AM
Is there any final message you would like to give to Catholics in the British Isles ?
SA
I would like to thank everyone who has been praying for Julian and supporting his freedom. I think that many people whom I have met along the way are both deeply concerned and disgusted about the dehumanisation and mistreatment of Julian, but also share my understanding that what is being done to Julian is a bigger attack on the truth and on people’s right to know the truth. And without the truth we can never have justice. The most important thing is not to allow Julian to become a taboo issue. This case is so flagrant, it concerns the exposure of the killing of thousands and thousands of men, women and children and what the punishment is for exposing that. Justice here should not be seen as a taboo subject.
We all have a responsibility to ensure that injustice isn’t allowed to carry on in silence. It’s crucial that people don’t remain silent in the face of this. That is why I am so grateful to the Pope for having decided to highlight this in this way.
(Photo: Alamy)
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