Caroline Kennedy, Vatican Ambassador?

[Archaeology cat]

[url="http://www.headlinebistro.com/en/news/italyambassadors.html"]Link[/url]

[quote]A longtime John Kerry supporter is about to land the prized position of U.S. ambassador to Italy, and Caroline Kennedy may join him nearby as ambassador to the Vatican, an Italian news magazine has claimed.

In an April 2 article in Panorama, journalist Carlo Rossella predicted that 60-year-old David Thorne, a donor to the Obama campaign and brother-in-law of former presidential candidate John Kerry, will be given the post, per the request of Kerry himself.

And in a report that will drop like a bombshell among Vatican watchers, Rosella also asserted that Caroline Kennedy – her own hopes to rise to the U.S. Senate dashed for now – has been suggested as the Obama administration’s ambassador to the Holy See.

It’s an ironic tangle of State Department, campaign and even marriage connections that only adds fuel to speculation over who will represent the United States in two of the State Department’s most high-profile posts.

Thorne, a founder of Adviser Investments, is a longtime close friend of Kerry, having attended college and served in the Vietnam War with the now-Massachusetts senator. Even after Kerry divorced Thorne’s sister in 1988, the two men remained close.

Describing him as “elegant,” and “very sociable,” Rosella wrote that, like Kerry, Thorne “has always loved ‘beautiful people,’ the ‘bella vita’, European taste.”

After being passed over in favor of Sen. Hillary Clinton for the position of Secretary of State, Rosella wrote, Kerry asked two favors of President Obama: first, to name Thorne as the State Department’s ambassador in Rome. Second, Kerry asked that Kennedy – herself aspiring to Clinton’s vacated Senate seat – be made the administration’s Vatican ambassador.

After a short and heavily-criticized attempt to win the appointment to the Senate, Kennedy withdrew her name “for personal reasons” from New York Governor David Patterson’s consideration.

At the time, Kerry said while he was sorry she withdrew, he supported her decision and had been in contact with her.

“I think she really was put in a very difficult position, almost impossible one,” Kerry said, “but she’ll go on to do terrific things.”

Of course, whether Kerry was alluding to a State Department post at Vatican City is up for speculation, and Rosella did not offer further details.

Still, the prospect of Kennedy representing the United States to the Holy See promises to raise more than a few eyebrows and makes for an interesting contrast to another recent article on the Vatican ambassador position.

Reflecting the potential media frenzy – especially in Catholic sources – over whom President Obama will eventually appoint to the post, Newsmax correspondent Edward Pentin reported April 2 that the administration has actually put forward three potential candidates – all of which were rejected by the Vatican due to their pro-abortion backgrounds.

Early on in her bid to win the New York senate seat, Kennedy assured abortion advocates that she would be a strongly pro-choice figure.

In his report, Rossella -- the former editor of Italian newspaper La Stampa -- was not shy in adding his own, favorable opinion of the Thorne-Kennedy dynamic in Rome.

“If Thorne makes it, it would be a great occasion for the politic, diplomatic, artistic circles of Rome,” Rossella wrote, outright labeling such an ideal as the return of glamorous diplomacy.

“The pairing with Caroline Kennedy,” he added, “would be the icing on the cake which has already been well decorated.”[/quote]

[cmotherofpirl]

The Vatican stipulates they have to be pro-life, thats whats taking so long.

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' post='1828652' date='Apr 8 2009, 07:59 AM']The Vatican stipulates they have to be pro-life, thats whats taking so long.[/quote]
Well good luck finding one of those in THIS administration...

[Archaeology cat]

Yeah, just saw [url="http://www.cathnewsusa.com/article.aspx?aeid=12812"]this article[/url] on the matter ([b]emphasis mine[/b]):

[quote]The Obama administration has put forward three candidates for consideration as US Ambassador to the Holy See but each of them have been deemed insufficiently pro-life by the Vatican, commentator Massimo Franco says.

One of the few conditions the Vatican places on diplomats accredited to the Holy See is that they hold pro-life views in line with Church teaching, Newsmax says.

Franco, author of "Parallel Empires," a recently published book on U.S.-Vatican relations, says the administration is now looking for a professional diplomat rather than a political appointee because finding an authentically pro-life candidate within the Democratic Party is proving impossible.

The task is further hampered by the administration's desire to reward individuals who gave donations to Obama's campaign.

Since the U.S. opened formal diplomatic relations with the Vatican 25 years ago under President Reagan, all ambassadors have been political appointees and pro-life Catholics of varying degrees, even under the Clinton administration.

However, in view of the absence of qualified Catholic candidates, [b]insiders say another option could be for the administration to choose a non-Catholic pro-life candidate rather than a Catholic whose record on pro-life issues is at odds with Church teaching.[/b]

"There may be room for such an appointment and it could be a good choice," said Franco, "but at the moment I can't imagine it happening."[/quote]

[Nihil Obstat]

That part with the emphasis makes more sense, to be honest.
I'll bet they'd get along better with the Vatican.

Unless they were the "Church is the antiChrist" type.

[MissyP89]

Epic fail.

[Winchester]

I'll do it.

[Madame Vengier]

These people have no shame.

And Caroline...so desperate. Does she feel the Kennedy legacy is fading fast and she wants to save it?

[homeschoolmom]

^ yes.

[CatherineM]

I understand what it is like to be an empty-nester looking around for something to do. No one offered me a trip to the Vatican though. She might be able to squeak by just because she has never actually voted on any life issues since she hasn't been elected to anything outside the PTA.

[Winchester]

The Kennedy's could be a bridge to the Vatican, with Ted "Droopy" Kennedy behind the wheel.

[Vincent Vega]

[quote name='Winchester' post='1828843' date='Apr 8 2009, 12:10 PM']The Kennedy's could be a bridge to the Vatican, with Ted "Droopy" Kennedy behind the wheel.[/quote]
If they're the bridge...I'll swim.

Edited April 8, 2009 by USAirwaysIHS

[BG45]

Well since we seem to be sending rounds of unqualified people to the Vatican to be rejected, I humbly offer my services as an unqualified ambassador.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='BG45' post='1828868' date='Apr 8 2009, 11:54 AM']Well since we seem to be sending rounds of unqualified people to the Vatican to be rejected, I humbly offer my services as an unqualified ambassador. [/quote]
Me too! Why not a Canadian for the job?

[T-Bone _]

This is yet another sign that Obama just doesn't get it.