Vatican City, Feb 19, 2010 / 09:59 am
A statement written and released this week by members of the Pontifical Academy for Life against the actions of their president has not reached the Holy Father or the secretary of state, Vatican spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi said on Friday. He also expressed his misgivings that such a document would be in circulation at all.
According to Vatican Radio, Fr. Lombardi responded to journalists' questions on Friday about the nature of a statement from members of the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV) outlining their criticism of the body's president, Archbishop Rino Fisichella.
The statement, bearing the signatures of five academy members, describes a lack of confidence in the archbishop as president of the Academy for Life and expresses their hope that "the Holy Father will recognize the need to provide him with an occupation better suited to his abilities. "
The statement refers particularly to the damaging effects of Archbishop Fisichella's response to the abortion of the twins of a nine-year old girl in Recife, Brazil last spring. They pointed to the ineffectiveness of his clarification in "dispelling the false understanding of the Church’s teaching about direct abortion conveyed by the 15 March 2009 article."