Liberation theologian ambassador to the Holy See

Here below is what Fr. Thomas Reese SJ has to say about Obama's pick for ambassador to the Holy See, Miguel Diaz. He mentioned the choice of Sonia Sotomayor also, but I tried to just paste the Diaz comments as I find him interesting The conservatives are not so happy with Diaz because he supported the nomination of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, but in my opinion, that's a good thing about him, and he's also a liberation theology guy who's into Katl Rahner - what's not to like? :). You can read what Fr. James Martin had to say about Diaz too by following the link in Fr. Reese's comments below .......

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[...] This week, Obama reached into the Hispanic Catholic community for two important appointments, the most prominent being the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. A less prominent nomination is that of Miguel Diaz, a Cuban American Catholic, as ambassador to the Holy See. Diaz is a professor of theology at St. John's University and a member of the board of the Catholic Theological Society of America ....

Diaz, a respected scholar, recently taught courses in "Trinity, Faith and Revelation" and "Christian Anthropology." He is author of On Being Human: U.S. Hispanic and Rahnerian Perspectives and co-editor of From the Heart of Our People: Latino/a Explorations in Catholic Systematic Theology.

He is obviously not your usual ambassadorial appointment. He is neither a big donor nor a politician although he did campaign for Obama. Jim Martin, S.J., associate editor of America, has already fantasized that "he and the Holy Father can have some lively Rahner-Balthasar discussions."

While his Catholic and theological background will help him understand the Vatican, he does not represent the Catholic community or Catholic theologians to the Vatican. He will represent the Obama administration and the U.S. Government.

Like any ambassador, he will have to be a quick study, but at least he will not have to worry about military alliances, trade or arrested Americans. His job will be pure diplomacy. His familiarity with Catholic social teaching will allow him to be sensitive to the areas where there will be agreement and friction. There are lots of areas of agreement: nuclear disarmament, poverty reduction, peace, refugees, etc. ........

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