The main catholic cheerleader for the Obama presidential election has been approved as Malta’s new US ambassador by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

His nomination now has to be approved by the Senate but it is likely that it will be confirmed, US media reported.

Douglas Kmiec, a Pepperdine University law professor, drew scorn during the campaign because of his support for Obama, an abortion advocate.

His nomination as ambassador to Malta is causing a stir in pro-life Catholic circles because of the country’s strong pro-life stance and laws prohibiting abortion.

Prof. Kmiec was a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel during the Reagan administration but appears to have fallen away from his involvement with pro-life political leaders.

He was denied communion and some say he exposed himself as not fully pro-life in an October article where he said that sometimes the law must leave space for the exercise of individual judgment, since religious or scientific differences of opinion were too profound to be bridged collectively

Prof. Kmiec was dean of Catholic University’s law school from 2001 to 2003 and was a professor at the University of Notre Dame’s law school.