Little noticed but interesting: Obama has selected a Hispanic theologian, Miguel Diaz, to be his ambassador to the Vatican. Dan Gilgoff notes:
Diaz is the first person in his family to go to college. His father, Felix, worked as a waiter and his mother, Silvia, as a data entry operator. He's married to a theologian and has four children. Diaz is a former president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States.
He's also an intellectual as Thomas Reese notes:
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."
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