Senate Confirms Catholic Ambassador to Vatican Who Backed Pro-Abortion Pols
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 5, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Miguel Diaz, a Catholic professor President Barack Obama nominated to become the next Vatican ambassador. However, some pro-life advocates opposed Diaz’s nomination because he supported Obama and other pro-abortion politicians.
Diaz is a professor of theology at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, and St. John’s University in Collegeville, both in Minnesota and is the first Hispanic named to represent the U.S. to the Holy See.
He issued a statement thanking the Senate and Obama "for the confidence he has invested in me."
"I am honored to be given the responsibility of representing the people of the United States to the Holy See," he said. "I very much appreciate the support of all those who have reached out to me and to my family with their prayers and best wishes during this process."
However, pro-life advocates doubt that Diaz could effectively represent a pro-abortion administration to the Catholic Church, which has longstanding pro-life teachings.
They point out that Diaz was a member of Obama’s Catholic advisory team during the 2008 presidential campaign and helped cover up his pro-abortion record during the campaign.
The National Catholic Register complained today about Diaz and abortion.
"The Catholic theology professor’s beliefs regarding the life issues and other moral issues, where President Barack Obama’s stances differ sharply with Church teachings, remain something of a cipher," it said.
The newspaper said it appears that Diaz "is a proponent of Obama’s ‘common ground’ approach on the life issues, which in practice consists of implementing pro-abortion policies and appointing pro-abortion personnel to key positions while proclaiming rhetorically that Obama would like to see the number of abortions reduced through the implementation of social policies that allegedly would discourage abortions."
Diaz told the Foreign Relations Committee that as Holy See ambassador, he would “embrace President Obama and Secretary Clinton’s diplomatic vision of leading through active listening and learning from others to seek common ground."
In 2006, Diaz served as theological consultant to the Catholic Alliance for the Common Good.
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.”
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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