Pontifical Academy for Life Archives

Pontifical Academy for Life

France becomes first country in world to make abortion a constitutional right

March 04, 2024

France has chosen to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right, thereby becoming the only country in the world to use its most fundamental principles of national law to guarantee the right to terminate a pregnancy up to 14 weeks. Lawmakers from both houses of the French Parliament voted 780 to 72 in favour of the

Controversial appointee to Vatican’s Academy for Life responds to her pro-life critics

February 13, 2024

ROME – Both the Italian archbishop who heads the Pontifical Academy for Life and an Ango-Italian economist who serves on it struck back at critics who claim their statements and views are at odds with traditional Catholic doctrine on sexual morality. Mariana Mazzucato, a Rome-born economist who’s served as an advisor to the UN, the

The Pontifical Academy for Life—A Sequel

December 19, 2022

Photo: Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia watches as Pope Francis addresses the General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life on 5 October 2017. ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images In a recent comment piece commissioned by the Catholic Herald I addressed the clamour of concern raised in the Catholic media at some of the recent appointments to

Ethics committee authorizes first assisted suicide in Italy

November 25, 2021

The Catholic Church in Italy said that life must be “protected and defended” after local health authorities in Italy gave the green light to the country’s first legally obtained assisted suicide. The ethics committee of the health service of the Italian city of Ancona ruled on Nov. 23 that a 43-year-old Italian man met the