Vatican ambassadors: Potpourri of insiders, politicians, scholars

Published: 2007-11-09

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Many countries' embassies to the Vatican have a priest on staff to help advise their ambassador on pontifical protocol and all things Catholic. But most of them could learn a few things from Mary Ann Glendon, the Harvard law professor President George W. Bush nominated as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See. In 2004, Pope John Paul II named her president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, an advisory body chock full of experts in law, economics, sociology and other fields. She led the Vatican's delegation to the 1995 U.N. Conference on Women in Beijing and to a follow-up meeting in 2005. At first glance, it would seem that if the U.S. Senate confirms her nomination Glendon's Vatican connections would make her a unique member of the diplomatic corps. But Poland's ambassador to the Vatican, Hanna Suchocka, also is a member of the social sciences academy and, like Glendon, one of the original members appointed by Pope John Paul when he set up the academy in 1994. Suchocka, again like Glendon, has a background in law. The Polish ambassador currently is one of 17 women in the 175-member group of diplomats accredited to the Vatican.

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