Views Mixed on Bush Pick for Envoy to Vatican Harvard Professor Is Called Conciliatory, by Peter Schworm, Boston Globe, November 7, 2007

Views Mixed on Bush Pick for Envoy to Vatican
Harvard Professor Is Called Conciliatory

By Peter Schworm
Boston Globe
November 7, 2007

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/11/07/views_mixed_on_bush_pick_for_envoy_to_vatican/

Mary Ann Glendon, a prominent legal scholar and a papal adviser poised to become the next US ambassador to the Vatican, is known for staunchly defending Catholic doctrine while striking a conciliatory tone with opponents, colleagues said yesterday.

Supporters said Glendon would bring a measured sensibility to a politically sensitive position, but opponents criticized her as a social conservative in lockstep with the Vatican's opposition to contraception and gay marriage. In recent years, Glendon has been a leading legal specialist on same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and was tapped this summer to lead an advisory group on judicial matters for presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Mary Ann Glendon was an adviser to Pope John Paul II.

The White House announced Monday that President Bush will nominate Glendon, a Harvard Law School professor who has advised the Vatican for more than a decade, to the position, which requires Senate confirmation.

Glendon, 69, also an opponent of abortion rights, is considered an authority on family law and social policy, bioethics, and international human rights. In 2004, she became the highest-ranking female adviser in the church when Pope John Paul II chose her to lead the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, a powerful panel that helps the church establish social policy.

Raymond L. Flynn, the US ambassador to the Vatican from 1993 to 1997 and a longtime friend of Glendon's, said her sharp mind and even temperament would serve her well in the diplomatic realm.

"She's an extraordinary legal mind and a very loyal American," said Flynn, a former Boston mayor. "She has dealt with the great scholars of the world, but is still a really down-to-earth person."

Flynn, who recently returned from a two-week visit to Rome, said top Vatican officials were excited at Glendon's appointment because of their long relationship. Glendon was an adviser to John Paul II and in 1995 became the first woman to lead a Vatican delegation, at the UN Women's Conference in Beijing.

Glendon, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, would succeed Francis Rooney, the envoy for the past two years.

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley praised her nomination. "Dr. Glendon's career is marked with numerous achievements in law, education, and international affairs that provide her exemplary credentials for this post," he said.

Flynn said Glendon, who has been discussed as a potential Supreme Court nominee in recent years, is committed to "social and economic justice rooted in the philosophy of the church" and does not cling to political partisanship.

"American political opinion is often at odds with the Catholic Church," Flynn said. "It's a fine line you have to walk, and sometimes it can be very difficult. But she's really not a political person. She approaches a lot of issues from a legal standpoint and keeps personal opinions out of the mix."

anaged to be faithful to the church without ever being extreme or strident.

"She always understands where people are coming from even if she doesn't agree with them," he said.