Presidential Picks for Ambassador Displease the Vatican

So far the Obama administration has three strikes against it in proposing a new U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See.

WASHINGTON (Catholic Online) - The Catholic blogosphere has been churning regarding President Obama's choice for Ambassador to the Holy See. The post has been vacant since January 19 and the three candidates named so far have not passed the litmus test on life issues.

Word came last Thursday, through Edwin Pentin's article on Newsmax.com, regarding the issue. His source, Massimo Franco, an Italian journalist and author of "Parallel Empires," a book on U.S.-Vatican relations, stated that the Vatican has not been at all pleased with the three persons, all of whom are Catholic but lack fidelity to the teachings of the Church, particularly with regard to life.

The choice for this position is critical to the Obama administration, which has continued to move aggressively in establishing policies that fly in the face of Catholic teaching. In his short tenure, the President has rescinded the Mexico City policy, begun the process of overturning the conscience clause for pro-life doctors, and authorized federal funding for deadly embryonic stem cell research.

Political observers from many faces of the Christian faith have been stating in articles, blogs, and during interviews that they are concerned. It also seems that President Obama has set a course to declare war on the Catholic Church and orthodox Christianity in general. In order to dispel such apprehension, the chief executive needs to be able to meet with the pope at some point in the near future.

Pentin stated in his Newsmax article, "Commentators say that unless an appointment is made by mid-April, the Obama administration could face the embarrassing possibility of having no ambassador in place when the president visits Italy in July for the G8 summit... That would make any encounter between Pope Benedict XVI and President Obama not impossible but unlikely."

Pentin went on to say that if the White House seems to have trouble finding a political appointee for the post who is Catholic and faithful to the Church's teaching, insiders indicated they may have to look for a non-Catholic pro-life candidate.

To this idea, Franco said, "There may be room for such an appointment and it could be a good choice, but at the moment I can't imagine it happening."

In early December, several pundits saw Doug Kmiec, a strong Obama supporter, as the likely candidate for the post. One official with the Vatican Secretary of State's office, however, said that the law professor's strong pro-Obama activities during the campaign has put too much of a strain on his standing within the Church to be a viable candidate.

The Catholic News Agency approached the Vatican with the question on Kmiec's possible appointment and was told, "It will never happen."

The U.S. is not the only country having problems seating diplomats. France has withdrawn its third candidate, a man who was openly homosexual. Their previous candidates included a divorcee, and a protestant. Argentina's candidate, also divorced, was turned down earlier this year.

As John Allen pointed out in his December 5, 2008 article on the ambassadorship, "Under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a host government can reject a proposed ambassador without specifying a reason." The Vatican, Allen goes on to say, has always vetted the individual with regard to the social teachings of the Church.

Since the United States opened diplomatic relations 25 years ago, each of the ambassadors have been pro-life Catholics. The last, Mary Ann Glendon, left the post at the change of administrations.

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online

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