Saturday, April 4, 2009

Vatican Has Veteoed Three Obama Picks For Envoy To The Holy See

I usually take some Newsmax article with a grain of salt but the source they quote here is pretty good and respected as knowing what he talking about.

See Vatican Unhappy with Obama Ambassador Picks

Here is a part:

According to Massimo Franco, author of "Parallel Empires," a recently published book on U.S.-Vatican relations, the Obama administration has put forward three candidates for consideration but each of them have been deemed insufficiently pro-life by the Vatican.
One of the few conditions the Vatican places on diplomats accredited to the Holy See is that they hold pro-life views in line with Church teaching.
Franco says the administration is now looking for a professional diplomat rather than a political appointee because finding an authentically pro-life candidate within the Democratic Party is proving impossible. The task is further hampered by the administration’s desire to reward individuals who gave donations to Obama’s campaign.
Since the U.S. opened formal diplomatic relations with the Vatican 25 years ago under President Reagan, all ambassadors have been political appointees and pro-life Catholics of varying degrees, even under the Clinton administration.
However, in view of the absence of qualified Catholic candidates, insiders say another option could be for the administration to choose a non-Catholic pro-life candidate rather than a Catholic whose record on pro-life issues is at odds with Church teaching.
“There may be room for such an appointment and it could be a good choice,” said Franco, “but at the moment I can’t imagine it happening
.” ......

First what a damning appraisial of the current state of Catholics in the Democratic party.

I do think there are suitable people though which are Catholic can be found.

One thing that many miss is the importance of this post outside even relations with the Holy See. It is a unique listening post for what is going on in the world. So you need somebody competent.

Who could Obama pick. Well if President Obama can entice Former Louisiana Senator John Breaux away from his lobbyist job that would be perfect

Another Louisiana person, but needless to say has baggage not related to the pro-life issue, is former Governor Blanco.

There are a few others but I suspect many pro-life Catholics do not look forward to being the public face of what could become a more controversial administration at the Vatican.

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