New U.S. ambassador to Vatican arrives in Rome

Published: 2008-02-15

ROME (CNS) -- The new U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, Mary Ann Glendon, arrived in Rome Feb. 15 and said she looked forward to working with the Vatican on issues of religious freedom and religious tolerance. Glendon, a Harvard University law professor, has served with Vatican agencies and diplomatic missions in the past. She said she hoped that experience would help her advance U.S.-Vatican relations in her new post. The United States and the Vatican have a "common commitment to the human dignity of every man, woman and child," she said in a statement to reporters at the Rome airport Feb. 15. "Both the United States and the Holy See have a long history in which faith and reason are inseparably united in that quest," she said. Glendon said the United States works for human dignity by "vigorously promoting human rights and religious freedom and by striving to foster dialogue and tolerance among persons of different faiths and cultures." As ambassador, she said, she expects to work with the Vatican "to advance those lofty goals."

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