President George W. Bush will nominate Mary Ann Glendon, a U.S. law professor and president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, as the new U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.The White House made the announcement late November 5th. She will succeed Francis Rooney, a businessman who has held the post since October 2005.
Glendon, a law professor at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., has been a member of the social sciences academy since its founding in 1994.
In March 2004 Pope John Paul II named her president of the academy, marking the first time a woman has been named president of one of the major pontifical academies.
The social sciences academy focuses on issues related to the social sciences, economics, politics and law. Although autonomous, the academy works in consultation with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
Glendon, 69, was the first woman named to head a Vatican delegation to a major U.N. conference; in 1995, Pope John Paul named her head of the Vatican delegation to the U.N. Conference on Women in Beijing.
Glendon's research has focused on bioethics, human rights, the theory of law and comparative constitutional law.
Since 2001, she also has served on the President's Council on Bioethics, which advises the U.S. president.
In addition to teaching at Harvard, she has been a visiting professor at Jesuit-run Gregorian University and the Legionaries of Christ's Regina Apostolorum Athenaeum, both in Rome.
A native of Berkshire County, Mass., she lives with her husband, Edward R. Lev, in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
They have three daughters. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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