After getting several Facebook messages and emails from people asking me what I thought about Caroline Kennedy being rejected as a choice for Vatican Ambassador.
For the record, she was not rejected at all. No names were floated or rejected according to the Vatican.
However, in today’s Washington Post, Eric Gorski does indeed float some possibilities and the inside track to how these decisions would be made.
One frequently mentioned name is Douglas Kmiec (pictured,right), a former dean of the Catholic University of America law school and Reagan administration lawyer who broke Republican ranks and endorsed Obama. Kmiec, who has a long record of opposing abortion, was lambasted by conservative Catholics and denied Communion by one priest.
Asked whether the administration had contacted him about the ambassadorship, Kmiec declined to comment.
Another possible candidate is Nicholas Cafardi, a professor at Duquesne University law school and the school’s former dean. Cafardi, who once considered the priesthood, is a canon lawyer and speaks Italian.
He was an original member and former chairman of the National Review Board, a panel of lay people formed by U.S. bishops in 2002 to help oversee the response to the clergy sex abuse crisis.
ad_iconCafardi opposes abortion rights and endorsed Obama. While not as visible as Kmiec, Cafardi did resign last year from the board of trustees at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, a conservative Catholic school in Ohio, to head off any conflict over his support for Obama.
Cafardi told The Associated Press on Thursday that the administration has not asked his advice about the post or offered it to him. He said he would be honored to be considered.
Read the whole article here
A hat tip to David Gibson for pointing us in the right direction.
With reference to Kmiec, Catholic News Agency says he’s got no shot.