.- Pope Benedict XVI has named Msgr. Jean Laffitte as vice president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, replacing outgoing Msgr. Elio Sgreccia.
Msgr. Laffitte was born in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, France in 1952 and up to now was undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family.
The Pontifical Academy for Life was founded by John Paul II in 1994 to study the principal issues related to biomedicine and to the promotion and defense of life. Its first president was the famous French geneticist Jeròme Lejeune, who was a close personal friend of Pope John Paul II.
