With his deep roots in the contemporary American church, Miguel Diaz has drawn praise as President Barack Obama's nominee as ambassador to the Vatican.

Colleagues hailed the May 27 selection of the Cuban-born Diaz, a professor of theology at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., since 2004, who has positioned himself as a leading voice in theological circles as Hispanic Catholic thought evolved.

Associates credit Diaz for being an outstanding colleague, gifted as an instructor and academic administrator and willing to consider various perspectives as he strives to improve the quality of his work.

The selection also was held up by observers as an affirmation of the growing role that Hispanic Catholics are playing in the U.S. Catholic Church.

"He's a bridge-builder, definitely one who has a real passion for his church and the state of the church," said Carmen Nanko-Fernandez, president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians in the United States.

The selection of Diaz "establishes that theology is a dialogue partner in the public arena," Nanko-Hernandez said.

"I appreciate the decision (Obama) made with this nominee, that's it's a recognition of the very reality, the recognition of the presence of Latino Catholics, which has been marginalized," he added.

Cecilia González-Andrieu, PhD, professor of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, said Diaz has been "active and dedicated to the work of educating Latino/Hispanic Catholics to assume leadership in a church that desperately needs them. He has been generous in working to create structures and programs which will foster theological education as a vital service and ministry of the church."

President Obama, said González-Andrieu, "has shown courage and foresight in his appointment of Diaz, a young theologian, whose very roots as a bilingual and bicultural person make his thinking centrist, layered and expansive. We are living in a new time, when the possibility of the U.S. and the Vatican making common cause around vital issues that assail human life on a global scale is palpably real.

"I believe Diaz will make certain that the inviolable dignity of the human person is the starting point of the joint work we are called to do as Ignatius of Loyola always said --- 'for the greater glory of God.'"

Benedictine Abbot John Klassen, chancellor of St. John's University, said the nomination of the 45-year-old systematic theologian suggests that the White House is reaching out to the Vatican to underscore the importance of the country's relationship with the Catholic Church with the goal of strengthening that relationship.

"It's not simply about politics," Abbot Klassen said.

As a native of Havana who arrived in Miami with his parents as a child, Diaz has ties to both the developed and the developing world which should prove to be "mutually advantageous" to the United States and the Catholic Church, said Jesuit Father Allan Figueroa Deck, executive director of the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Speaking as a founding member of the academy, Father Deck, said he and others identified Diaz as a rising star among Catholic theologians early in the history of the organization in the late 1980s.

"Those of us who are bilingual and bicultural have an advantage," Father Deck said. "The advantage is that our circumstances have allowed us to have feet in two worlds. At the same time we have an experience that links us to Third World peoples.

"Given the reality of globalization, this is an aspect of bilingual, bicultural people that serves, I would say, the church's catholicity. It enables us to function perhaps with more of a grounding that is useful in a church that is as diverse as ours," said Father Deck, who has known Diaz for nearly 20 years.

Colleagues in south Florida, where Diaz taught and held administrative positions at a Catholic seminary and a Catholic university, said Diaz constantly worked to improve the quality of his teaching and the coursework offered to students.

"He was progressive in the sense of his own work as a theologian exploring the significance of the Hispanic perspective in theology," said Father Steven O'Hala, who succeeded Diaz as academic dean at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Fla.

On a personal side, colleagues described Diaz as pro-life, hospitable, smart, willing to listen to others and a family man. His wife, Marian, is an adjunct instructor at St. Benedict and St. John's.

Diaz is a board member of the Catholic Theological Society of America and former president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States. Diaz served as a member of Obama's Catholic advisory team during the campaign and was a regular campaign spokesman on Obama's behalf, particularly in the Spanish-language press.

"I am very honored, grateful, and humbled that President Obama has nominated me to serve as ambassador to the Holy See," said Diaz in a statement forwarded to Catholic News Service by the university. "If confirmed by the U.S. Senate I will continue the work of my predecessors and build upon 25 years of formal diplomatic relations with the Holy See. I wish to be a bridge between our nation and the Holy See."

Diaz would be the first Hispanic to represent the United States at the Vatican. Like several of Obama's other prominent nominees --- including Judge Sonia Sotomayor, nominated to the Supreme Court --- Diaz comes from humble beginnings. His father worked as a waiter and his mother did data entry work, and their son was the first member of the family to attend college.

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States, called Diaz "an excellent choice because he knows very well the United States and because of his background."

Latin Americans "should be very proud," he told CNS during a symposium May 28 at The Catholic University of America that the archbishop was attending. Coincidentally, the topic of the daylong event was the history of U.S.-Vatican diplomatic relations.

In an interview with CNS during inaugural festivities in January, Diaz said he thought "the presidency of Barack Obama represents a new opportunity for all of us" for racial healing.

Diaz said Obama was "committed to working" with people who defend "life in the womb" and deeply respects people who hold positions he does not agree with.

The announcement of the nomination capped months of speculation about who Obama would select to represent him at the Vatican. In early April the Vatican press spokesman took the unusual step of shooting down persistent rumors that the Vatican had rejected several potential nominees, including Caroline Kennedy, supposedly because they support legal abortion.

"Wherever we can, we should advance life at all stages," Diaz said in January.

One White House source described Diaz as "clearly pro-life" and said the decision to select a respected theologian instead of a big fundraiser or political mover and shaker is an indication "of how seriously the administration is taking the relationship with the Vatican."

Diaz would fill the vacancy created by the departure of Harvard law professor Mary Ann Glendon, who was named ambassador in 2007 and left the post in January.

The statement from St John's University noted that Diaz earned his bachelor's degree from St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Fla., and his master's and doctorate from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. He previously taught at Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla.; St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Fla.; the University of Dayton in Ohio; and Notre Dame. The statement said he is fluent in Italian, Spanish and French.

The St. John's statement said Diaz's academic interests --- besides his focus on the Trinity --- also include theological anthropology and Latino/Latina theologies.

His published materials include the book "On Being Human: U.S. Hispanic and Rahnerian Perspectives" (Orbis Books, 2002), for which he received the Hispanic Theological Initiative's 2002 Book of the Year award from Princeton Theological Seminary. He also is co-editor of the book, "From the Heart of Our People: Latino/a Explorations in Catholic Systematic Theology" (Orbis Books, 1999).

---CNS