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Glendon Confirmed as U.S. Envoy to Holy See

WASHINGTON, D.C., DEC. 21, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The U.S. Senate confirmed President George Bush's nomination of Mary Ann Glendon as the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.The Wednesday approval means that Glendon will succeed Francis Rooney, who has represented the United States before the Holy See since 2005. A date for her succession has not been set.

Glendon is the president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and a law professor at Harvard University.

In 1994, Pope John Paul II appointed her to lead the Holy See delegation to the U.N. 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing.

Harvard Prof Picked for Vatican Post

By ANDREW MIGA -

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush plans to nominate Harvard University law professor Mary Ann Glendon to be his new U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.

Glendon, 69, is an anti-abortion scholar and an opponent of gay marriage who also has written on the effects of divorce and increased litigation on society. Her 1987 book "Abortion and Divorce in Western Law" was critical of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a legal right to abortion.

The White House announced Monday that Bush will nominate Glendon to the post, which requires Senate confirmation.

Glendon was appointed by Pope John Paul II in 1994 to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, a panel that advises the Roman Catholic church on social policy.

Glendon has served as an adviser to the Vatican in several capacities. In 1995, she was the first woman to lead a delegation of the Holy See at the United Nations Women's Conference in Beijing. She has also served on the Pontifical Council for the Laity and as a consultant to the Pontifical Council on the Family.

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who last summer named Glendon to co-chair his campaign advisory committee on the constitution and courts, praised the choice.

"She will serve our country with the honor and dignity we expect from those who represent our country's values abroad. While I may have lost her trusted counsel to our campaign, our country has gained an extremely gifted ambassador," Romney said in a statement.

A native of Dalton, Mass., Glendon taught at Boston College and became a visiting professor of law at Harvard in 1974. She became a full professor there in 1986.
Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.