Vatican ambassador nominee offers fuller account of Pope-Obama meeting

July 23, 2009

The theology professor whom President Barack Obama nominated as his ambassador to the Holy See has offered a fuller account of the recent meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and President Barack Obama. Miguel Diaz told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the two discussed the Middle East peace process, outreach to Muslims worldwide, bioethics, abortion, Cuba, and Honduras. After mentioning that the Pope and President Obama discussed first “the defense and promotion of life and the right to abide by one’s conscience,” the Vatican press release issued after the July 10 meeting alluded more generally to the “dialogue between cultures and religions, the global economic crisis and its ethical implications, food security, development aid especially for Africa and Latin America, and the problem of drug trafficking.”

Referring to his own nomination, Diaz said that “my commitment to creating dialogue related to cultural diversity, immigration, poverty, and the role of religion and society prepares me well for this endeavor.”

 

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Further information:

• Senate Holds Confirmation Hearings on Vatican Ambassador (RNS)
• Julia Duin: Miguel Diaz and the Vatican (Belief Blog)
• Comunicato Della Sala Stampa Della Santa Sede: Udienza Del Santo Padre Benedetto XVI Al Presidente Degli Stati Uniti D’America Barack H. Obama (Holy See)