Challenges Gingrich Will Face as Vatican Ambassador

After President Barack Obama took office in 2009, his administration floated two names for the position of ambassador to the Vatican: Caroline Kennedy and law professor Doug Kmiec. But members of the conservative wing of the church complained, Kmiec said, because the two supported a politician who backs abortion rights. Kmiec was sent as an ambassador to Malta instead.

But that controversy took place under Pope Benedict XVI.

Now, Kmiec said, Callista Gingrich, who is married to a twice-divorced man, will probably be welcomed by a pope who is seen as very open to people of different backgrounds.