Vatican blocks Caroline Kennedy ambassador role

Mystery surrounds a further blow to the political career of Caroline Kennedy. After pulling out of her bid to replace Hillary Clinton as New York senator, and all talk of her becoming US ambassador to London having evaporated, she was apparently being lined up as the next US ambassador to the Vatican. But it emerged at the weekend that the Vatican could not countenance the appointment of someone who is pro-choice on the issue of abortion.

Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the assassinated President John F Kennedy and niece of President Barack Obama's friend Senator Edward Kennedy, gave Obama one of his biggest boosts during his campaign for the Democratic nomination last year when she publicly endorsed him over Hillary Clinton.

Obama is thought to have wanted to reward her for that support and the story in Washington was that Senator John Kerry was urging him to offer her the Vatican role.

Whether a formal approach was ever made - or whether the White House simply sounded out the Vatican on the idea - is still not clear. What is known is that the message came back loud and clear from the Vatican, both in the Italian press and through senior Roman Catholics in the US, that Kennedy's appointment, whatever her connections, would not be tolerated.

CJ Doyle, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Action League, said: "It's inappropriate to appoint someone who pretends to be a Catholic but rejects the fundamental teachings of the Church." Raymond Flynn, a former US ambassador to the Vatican, told the Boston Herald: "It's imperative, it's essential that the person who represents us to the Holy See be a person who has pro-life values."

The Roman Catholic hierarchy is already displeased with Obama, strongly disapproving of his own declared support for abortion and for stem cell research. His first meeting with the Pope - during a G8 summit in Italy in July - is not expected to be comfortable. ·