Obama Vatican Ambassador, Catholic Who Backs Pro-Abortion Pols, Gets Hearing
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 23, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Miguel Diaz, the college professor whom has backed pro-abortion politicians and whom President Barack Obama picked to become ambassador to the Vatican, has been unusually quiet since his nomination. Diaz has not done any interviews with either Catholic or secular press since Obama tapped him.
Diaz received criticism from pro-life advocates for backing Obama’s presidential bid, his pro-abortion health secretary nominee and for working with a group that covered up Obama’s pro-abortion record during the presidential election.
Yesterday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on Diaz’s nomination and he received little in the way of questions.
Fellow Catholic Sen. Bob Casey asked about Obama’s recent meeting with Pope Benedict XVI and Diaz mentioned a few topics and added that the two spoke on the pope’s encyclicals on "bioethics and abortion."
Julia Duin of the Washington Times reports that Diaz’s answer was interesting in that "his recitation differs somewhat from the official Vatican press release so it’s possible Mr. Diaz got some information from the White House."
But what struck Duin more was Diaz’s lackluster responses to the committee and unwillingness to talk to the press.
"Diaz’s brief prepared speech and replies to Mr. Casey’s questions were so bland and boilerplate that I didn’t even take notes," she writes.
She added: Following the hearing, "I and another reporter rushed Mr. Diaz, hoping to get some decent comments plus contact information assuming the Senate Foreign Relations Committee votes to confirm him next Tuesday. The nominee brushed us aside, only saying he was ‘very proud’ to be nominated but he had to be with his family."
"When we protested Mr. Diaz’s seeming inability to say much of anything, we were reminded that we had to go through the State Department for interviews," Duin continued, noting that "the other [ambassador] nominees [at the hearing] were standing around, chatting with reporters and bystanders."
"But no, Mr. Diaz marshaled his family for a photo in the front part of the briefing room, then escaped through a back door for Senate staff only. Bad sign," she concluded.
Duin is concerned that Diaz’s tenure as the Vatican ambassador will be marked by the same abortion coverup as pro-Obama Catholic groups conducted during the presidential campaign.
"Like the president, he’ll allow interviews with ‘safe’ Catholic publications who won’t throw him any hardballs, such as how he reconciles the Catholic Church’s position on abortion, stem cell research, etc. with that of the president," she said.
"As to what his personal views are on ‘life’ issues, it doesn’t sound like we’ll get that answer any time soon," she concluded.
Writing for the National Catholic Register, Tim Drake has similar concerns, and points out that Diaz is a part of the pro-Obama Catholic regime that is intent on misleading pro-life advocates and hiding his pro-abortion record.
"During Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, Diaz served as a member of Obama’s Catholic advisory group. According to public records, Diaz donated $1,000 to Obama’s presidential campaign last fall. In 2006, he served as theological consultant to the Catholic Alliance for the Common Good," Drake writes.
The group eventually came under fire from Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, who said it had "done a disservice to the Church, confused the natural priorities of Catholic social teaching, undermined the progress pro-lifers have made, and provided an excuse for some Catholics to abandon the abortion issue instead of fighting within their parties and at the ballot box to protect the unborn.”
Diaz is a theology professor at St. John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict in Collegeville, Minnesota.
Obama isn’t alone in earning Diaz’s support, as he also endorsed pro-abortion Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius and her nomination to become Obama’s health secretary.
Diaz was one of several Catholic college professors to support her bid, which prompted Cardinal Newman Society president Patrick Reilly to say they were "giving comfort and aid to those whose stated goals are to advance policies directly opposed to Catholic teachings on life issues."
“Given Gov. Sebelius’s abortion record and the concerns of her own bishop, it is sad that some of her strongest supporters are speaking out from their platforms on Catholic campuses,” he said.
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