Hinting that Pope Benedict should act, five members of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life say that it is “absurd” that the Academy is led by a president, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who does not understand “absolute respect for innocent human lives”.

In a statement issued following the Academy’s plenary meeting in Rome last week, the five members noted that situation is one that can “be rectified only by those who are responsible for his appointment as President,” a reference to Pope Benedict, Lifesite News reports.

The Academy members charge Fisichella with manipulating both the media and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in order to deflect blame for damage to the Church caused by an article he wrote last year in which he appeared to condone the abortion of twins in Brazil.

The Academicians’ statement says that members held back from a direct confrontation last week, believing that an open challenge at the time would have merely caused the Vatican’s Curia to “close ranks” around one of their own “because of the clericalist culture of that body” and despite the “lack of support” for Fisichella himself.

“There is credible information that Fisichella is widely perceived in the Curia to be an inappropriate President of PAV and there is a reasonable hope that the Holy Father will recognise the need to provide him with an occupation better suited to his abilities,” the statement said.

The statement’s signatories include Monsignor Michel Schooyans, Professor Emeritus of the University of Louvain, Belgium; Professor Luke Gormally, the former director of the Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics; Christine de Marcellus de Vollmer, head of the Alliance for the Family in Venezuela; Dr. Maria Smereczynska a corresponding member from Poland and Dr. Thomas Ward, president of the National Association of Catholic Families.

The group said that the reluctance of some members to challenge Fisichella at the meeting, “has created the unfortunate impression that Academicians are behind his presidency, resignedly or otherwise. This is an impression he is evidently interested in propagating.”

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Head of Pontifical Academy for Life Should be Removed: Academy Members ^[1] (LifeSite News)

LINKS

Statement on the Presidency of the Pontifical Academy for Life following the Assembly of the Academy, 11-13 February 2010 ^[2]