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Name: Glendon, Mary Ann
Current Position: Previous Ambassador
Mary Ann Glendon has served as the US Ambassador to the Holy See since February 14, 2008. A native of Massachusetts, Glendon earned her bachelor’s degree, law degree, and a master’s degree in comparative law at the University of Chicago. Her research focused on European civil law, human rights, legal theory and comparative constitutional law.
Prior to becoming ambassador, Glendon was an associate at the Chicago law firm of Mayer, Brown and Platt, and a law professor at Boston College Law School. She was also a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, as well as at the Jesuit-run Pontifical Gregorian University and the Legionaries of Christ’s Regina Apostolorum Athenaeum, both in Rome.
In 1995, Pope John Paul II appointed her head of the Vatican delegation to the UN Conference on Women in Beijing, the first time a woman ever held such a position. Glendon has also served as a consultant to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Policy.
From 2001 to 2004, she served on the President’s Council on Bioethics. In March 2004, Pope John Paul II named her president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, marking the first time a woman has headed one of the major pontifical academies.