President Barack Obama named theology professor Miguel Diaz as the US ambassador to the Holy See, a post the US leader reportedly had trouble filling.

Prof. Diaz is a theology professor at St John's University and the College of Saint Benedict in the midwestern state of Minnesota. He is also a board member of the Catholic Theological Society of America, and past president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the US.

The nomination requires confirmation from the US Senate.

Several news sources reported that the Vatican rejected at least three possible earlier candidates, including Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of slain US President John F. Kennedy, the country's first Catholic President.

The Vatican reportedly rejected the nominees due to their and the Obama administration's support for abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research.

The Vatican denied the reports.

Prof. Diaz is the co-editor of From the Heart of Our People: Explorations in Catholic Systematic Theology, and author of the 2002 book On Being Human: US Hispanic and Rahnerian Perspectives.

Prof. Diaz has a doctorate in theology from the University of Notre Dame, the Catholic institution in the state of Indiana where Mr Obama spoke in the middle of this month.

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, a staunch opponent of abortion.

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