Vatican denies veto of Caroline Kennedy as envoy

The Vatican yesterday denied reports that it has turned down Caroline Kennedy, the Catholic daughter of assassinated president John F Kennedy, as US ambassador to the Holy See.

A number of media reports, including the BBC, cited an article in the Italian newspaper La Stampa, which claimed that Vatican had rejected three nominees due to their and the Obama administration's support for abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research.

But Vatican press office, Father Federico Lombardi, said: "There has not been any proposal regarding the new United States ambassador to the Holy See, and it is therefore untrue that she was rejected."

The US ambassador post in the Vatican has been vacant since the January departure of Mary Ann Glendon, who was named in November 2007 by then president George W Bush.


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