To ambassador 'Miami is special'
Monday, June 28, 2010
* Ana Rodriguez Soto
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What else can you say when you’ve just visited the home of the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, met his family, taken pictures with him and Archbishop Thomas Wenski, and roamed around his back lawn while drinking cocktails and eating hors d’ouvres?
Ambassador Miguel Diaz, who describes himself as “a child of Miami,” toasted our group after patiently greeting and taking pictures with every one of the 250 pilgrims who are here in Rome.
He said the multicultural, multilingual environment he experienced while growing up and studying in south Florida — he graduated from St. Thomas University and spent a year at St. John Vianney College Seminary — had prepared him for his current duties as a diplomat. (He is actually a theologian.)
He said that support for “human dignity and inalienable human rights are the clear threads that have run through 27 years of relations between the United States and the Holy See.”
He stressed “the importance of religion in a world that appears more and more fragmented,” and added, “It is vitally important to harness the moral leadership of people of faith to do good.”
Archbishop Wenski, in his remarks, agreed that diplomatic relations with the Vatican are “mutually beneficial” because it provides the U.S. with “a powerful listening post to the world.”
The reception at the ambassador’s residence was just the beginning of what Archbishop Wenski described as an “emotion-filled week” for him. It certainly was special for the rest of us as well. A reception at the ambassador’s house is what all the newly-named U.S. archbishops get when they come to Rome to receive their pallium. The archbishops and pilgrims from Milwaukee, Wis., and Cincinnati, Ohio, will be welcomed by the ambassador later this week.
“He usually does them all together,” said Julieta Valls Noyes, deputy chief of mission for the U.S. embassy to the Holy See. “But this one is special because Miami is special.”
Comments from readers
Araceli
Thank you Ana.
And the words of Ambassador Miguel Diaz resound deeply: "the importance of religion in a world that appears more and more fragmented" - "It is vitally important to harness the moral leadership of people of faith to do good." Truly powerful words worth reflecting upon.
Thank you! And may this trip continue to hold wonderful blessings for you and every pilgrim!