New statutes for Pontifical Academy for Life

November 07, 2016

Pope Francis has approved new statutes for the Pontifical Academy for Life, which was established by St. John Paul II in 1994.

The new statutes were approved on October 18, published on November 5, and come into force on January 1. The revised statutes take into account recent changes to the Roman Curia, and thus references to the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers in the 2004 statutes have been removed, while references to the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life have been added.

The three specific tasks of the academy – to “study questions and issues connected with the promotion and defense of human life,” to “educate in a culture of life … always in full respect of the Magisterium of the Church,” and to inform others of the results of its studies – are identical in the 2004 and 2016 statutes.

The 2016 statutes, unlike the 2004 statutes, add that the academy

studies the various aspects that relate to the care of the dignity of the human person at the different ages of existence, mutual respect between genders and generations, the defense of the dignity of each single human being, the promotion of a quality of human life that integrates material and spiritual value, with a view to an authentic “human ecology,” which may help to recover the original balance of Creation between the human person and the entire universe.

 

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Further information:

• Statute of the Pontifical Academy for Life, 05.11.2016 (Holy See Press Office)
• 2004 statute (Pontifical Academy of Life)