Should Ambassador to the Vatican be Catholic?

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Linda H.:
Personally I wouldn’t be surprised if he asked his brother Jeb to take the job, and to be honest I think it could be a good choice if he did. Linda H.
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Jeb is Catholic by the way. I don’t think the person needs to be Catholic, but I do think it would be nice to have a faithful Catholic to represent us to the Pope. Wouldn’t it be hard for someone that doesn’t believe in God, or in pro life issues- just to name of few key issues?
 
La Chiara:
My understanding is that the US Ambassador to the Vatican is strictly a political plum and is given to a Catholic–usually a major donor–mostly because no one else is at all interested in the job. Let’s face it, Ambassador to the Vatican is not among the most exciting positions out there. It is NOT like Ambassador to England, Germany, France, Russia, Israel, Japan, etc. It is largely ceremonial and who but a Catholic would really be interested?
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Ambassador Nicholson (the outgoing US ambassador) has in many ways redefined the job. Whether that style will remain with the next appointment (I hope so) will depend on the individual.

In the old days (pre-Nicholson), it was a very ceremonial role. But now its very active in presenting the position of the US on various issues which also interest the Holy See - even when those positions disagree.
 
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davidc2:
Ambassador Nicholson (the outgoing US ambassador) has in many ways redefined the job. Whether that style will remain with the next appointment (I hope so) will depend on the individual.

In the old days (pre-Nicholson), it was a very ceremonial role. But now its very active in presenting the position of the US on various issues which also interest the Holy See - even when those positions disagree.
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Actually I have to disagree with you on this one: the first real change came under Ronald Reagan when he and JPII were working closely on the fall of the wall - much was done through the envoy’s office to the Vatican.

Then Ray Flynn took the job under Clinton and after reading his book I’d say there was a great deal more going on than ceremonial.

Now Nicholson with the Iraqi war and all has elaborated on it even further.
 
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Zoot:
Why can’t a US ambassador be gay?
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I assume you mean a out in the open practicing homosexual. Following this logic, let’s send a Hassidic Jew to Saudi Arabia, a Muslim Arab or former member of the Nazi party to Isreal, a Japanise to China, members of the KKK to all the African nations and a Pakistani to India. I’ll bet that with a little planning we could upset 90% of the world, who knows maybe even start WW III. :rolleyes:
 
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Lance:
I assume you mean a out in the open practicing homosexual. Following this logic, let’s send a Hassidic Jew to Saudi Arabia, a Muslim Arab or former member of the Nazi party to Isreal, a Japanise to China, members of the KKK to all the African nations and a Pakistani to India. I’ll bet that with a little planning we could upset 90% of the world, who knows maybe even start WW III. :rolleyes:
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Gays do very well in our society and have many positions of responsiblity. Nazis and KKK members do not. Nazis and KKK members promote the death of other groups. Gays do nt.

However, we have sent women to Arab nations that are male dominated. I have no problem sending a Jew to an Arab nation. Henry Kissinger is Jewish and negotiated with Arabs and Jews. Joseph Lieberman is a potential president. He’s Orthodox Jewish. Should we disqualify him because he might be meeting with Arab Muslims?

Better yet, should we disqualify a Catholic from being sent to a predominantly Protestant nation? Maybe we should simply disqualify all Catholics from representing the US, which is a predominantly protestant nation.

We might also ask how the Vatican could object to a gay ambassador when so many of their priests are gay. The Vatican certainly has no problem sending out gay priests.

These restrictions are all silly.
 
He should definitely be a Catholic loyal to he Magisterium (that would have disqualified the liberal Flynn) and he should be fluent in Latin and Italian.

Chris C.
 
…and Zoot, sodomites did very well in the upper echelons of the Nazis.

Chris C.
 
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Zoot:
Gays do very well in our society and have many positions of responsiblity. Nazis and KKK members do not. Nazis and KKK members promote the death of other groups. Gays do nt.

However, we have sent women to Arab nations that are male dominated. I have no problem sending a Jew to an Arab nation. Henry Kissinger is Jewish and negotiated with Arabs and Jews. Joseph Lieberman is a potential president. He’s Orthodox Jewish. Should we disqualify him because he might be meeting with Arab Muslims?

Better yet, should we disqualify a Catholic from being sent to a predominantly Protestant nation? Maybe we should simply disqualify all Catholics from representing the US, which is a predominantly protestant nation.

We might also ask how the Vatican could object to a gay ambassador when so many of their priests are gay. The Vatican certainly has no problem sending out gay priests.

These restrictions are all silly.
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Define doing well. The suicide rate for gays is higher than the national average, their AIDS infection is higher, many of the hide their sexual orientation, they are discriminated against in many circles. If one were a non-practicing gay I suppose there would be no problem sending them to an ambassador’s post. Is the gay priest problem a world wide proble or just an American one? I don’t know. I do know that the pedophile problem is not just a gay problem. We had a priest in our parish who was molesting young girls.
 
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Lance:
Define doing well. The suicide rate for gays is higher than the national average, their AIDS infection is higher, many of the hide their sexual orientation, they are discriminated against in many circles. If one were a non-practicing gay I suppose there would be no problem sending them to an ambassador’s post. Is the gay priest problem a world wide proble or just an American one? I don’t know. I do know that the pedophile problem is not just a gay problem. We had a priest in our parish who was molesting young girls.
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They do well in ther professions.

Ambassadors are chosen as individuals, not simply randomly taken from a group with a common characteristic. If one meets all other qualifications to be an ambassador, sexual orientation is meaningless in the decision.

The Dallas Morning News had a six part series in June about abusive priests and their enabling bishops in South America and the pacific. the problem is still in full bloom their, even after the US problem hit the news.
 
Since GWB received little support from the gay community, the discussion about appointing a gay ambassador is probably moot. As someone else said most ambassadors are given the post as a reward for political support in the past.
 
IMHO, to appoint a nonCatholic to the Post at the Vatican IS A SLAP IN THE FACE OF THE VATICAN. Use common sence.
 
Zoot, Your profile shows zero for a religion, so I am assuming you may be an Atheist or possibly you are a homosexual. I don’t think the President will be calling you for an opinion. Neither will I.
 
La Chiara:
My understanding is that the US Ambassador to the Vatican is strictly a political plum and is given to a Catholic–usually a major donor–mostly because no one else is at all interested in the job. Let’s face it, Ambassador to the Vatican is not among the most exciting positions out there. It is NOT like Ambassador to England, Germany, France, Russia, Israel, Japan, etc. It is largely ceremonial and who but a Catholic would really be interested?
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Political plum, yes. But no one else interested in the job? That would be a great job, even if I weren’t Catholic. 3 years in Rome, without the tedious meetings on trade and the immigration issues that occupy so many other ambassadors.

Suppose the US established diplomatic relations with the leadership of other religions. How could you turn down a nomination to be ambassador to Canterbury, or Constantinople, or to the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow? I suppose I’d have to think twice about being ambassador to the Church of God in Cleveland, Tennessee. But the benefits are good.🙂

However, if you mean no ego-driven politician like Dan Quayle, Lamar Alexander, or similar B-list figures, then you probably have a point.

BTW, we had an openly gay Ambassador to Luxembourg for awhile. I think that’s the only one so far.
Chris C.:
He should definitely be a Catholic loyal to he Magisterium (that would have disqualified the liberal Flynn)
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Was there an issue where Flynn was disloyal to the Magisterium? I’m not up on all of his religious statements.
 
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Exporter:
IMHO, to appoint a nonCatholic to the Post at the Vatican IS A SLAP IN THE FACE OF THE VATICAN. Use common sence.
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Who cares what the Vatican thinks? It’s our ambassador, not theirs. They can always refuse him.
 
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Exporter:
Zoot, Your profile shows zero for a religion, so I am assuming you may be an Atheist or possibly you are a homosexual. I don’t think the President will be calling you for an opinion. Neither will I.
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The President calls me all the time. I told him to send a transvestite to the Vatican.
 
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Zoot:
Who cares what the Vatican thinks? It’s our ambassador, not theirs. They can always refuse him.
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Most of the people here are Catholic and we care deeply about what the Vatican thinks. You did not list a religion in your profile, but I assume you are not Catholic. I will not presume to speak for the rest of the people here but personnaly I couldn’t care less what you think.
 
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Lance:
Most of the people here are Catholic and we care deeply about what the Vatican thinks. You did not list a religion in your profile, but I assume you are not Catholic. I will not presume to speak for the rest of the people here but personnaly I couldn’t care less what you think.
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So what?
 
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