Vatican City, May 11, 2012 / 03:12 am
The president of the Pontifical Academy for Life has expressed his full commitment to the “Gospel of Life,” and apologized for communications that were seen as dismissing members' ethical concerns.
On May 8, Bishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula acknowledged that an April 2012 letter, criticizing “some pro-life activists” who objected to aspects of a planned Vatican conference on stem cells, “contained unfortunate phrasing which, if misunderstood, could have offended the sensibilities of some persons.”
In Tuesday's letter to academy members, the bishop and academy president assured them that the offending words were not meant “to show any disrespect, and certainly not to those with whom we have been collaborating closely and gratefully for years in favor of human life and of its defense.”
“The fulcrum of our academy has always been and is, now more than ever, the Gospel of Life,” Bishop Carrasco de Paula told members.