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ROME – On Monday, the Pontifical Academy for Life announced that after the, at times tumultuous, tenure of its previous leadership, Italian priest, bioethicist and physician Monsignor Renzo Pegoraro has been named as its new president.

In a May 27 statement, the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV) said that Pegoraro, who previously served as chancellor of the academy, meaning its de facto second-in-command, had been tapped as president of the institution, founded by Pope John Paul II in 1994.

He replaces Italian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who had served as president of the academy since 2016 and who has now retired, having reached the age of 80 in April.

Pegoraro in the statement thanked Pope Leo XIV for naming him to the post, saying his work with Paglia and Spanish Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, who led the academy before Paglia, “has been both fascinating and stimulating, in line with the operational and thematic guidelines of the late Pope Francis.”

He voiced his desire to continue working “along the lines of the themes and methodology developed in recent years, enhancing the specific expertise of our broad and distinguished international and interreligious group of Academicians.”

“I particularly highlight the themes of Global Bioethics, dialogue with scientific disciplines through the transdisciplinary approach promoted by Pope Francis, artificial intelligence and biotechnologies, and the promotion of respect for and the dignity of human life in all its stages,” he said.

Pegoraro’s appointment was likely arranged prior to Pope Francis’s death, as all official roles automatically cease when the occupant turns 80, with Pope Leo simply authorizing a decision already put into motion by his predecessor.

The insistence by Pegoraro on wanting to continue “dialogue with scientific disciplines through the transdisciplinary approach promoted by Pope Francis” likely marks a point of continuity with Paglia, who under Francis appeared to shift the academy’s scope and purpose in recent years.

Rather than being a body designed and tasked with articulating and promoting the Catholic Church’s position on life and moral issues, the PAV has recently been in a slow transition of-sorts into an interdisciplinary institute of scientific study and dialogue, more akin to the Pontifical Academies for the Sciences and Social Sciences.

In the latter two, non-Christians and even non-believers and atheists whose views differ drastically from Church teaching have been appointed members due to their distinguished contributions to the sciences in their respective fields.

This quasi shift in direction, coupled with some statements, texts and declarations from Paglia, led the PAV to come under fire for various controversies that flared up during Paglia’s tenure, specifically in the past five years or so.

In July 2022, for example, the PAV saw backlash for the publication of, “Theological Ethics of Life: Scripture, Tradition, Challenges, and Practice,” a volume styled as a summary of discussions held in previous academy meetings, but which was drafted by a hand-picked group of select members.

It became a source of controversy due to the inclusion of papers from some theologians arguing for a distinction between moral norms, such as the ban on birth control, and the concrete pastoral application of those norms. In some of the contributions, theologians appeared to suggest that in certain circumstances, couples might be justified in choosing artificial contraception or methods of artificial reproduction.

Some academicians later complained that more conservatively minded members were either not involved in the drafting of the text, or, those who were, withdrew from participation after realizing the direction the text was going to take.

In August of that year, the PAV faced more backlash after a tweet was sent from the academy’s official Twitter account suggesting that St. Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae – which reinforced Church teaching on marriage and upheld its condemnation of artificial contraception – was not covered by the doctrine of papal infallibility, meaning it can be subject to change.

Conservative experts later organized a counter-conference in December that year defending the Church’s ban on birth control and advocating to uphold the entirety of Humanae Vitae.

In October 2022 there was also controversy over Pope Francis’s appointment to the PAV, defended by Paglia, of Mariana Mazzucato, a professor of the economics of innovation and public value at University College London who had publicly supported abortion and condemned the U.S. Supreme Court’s overruling of Roe v. Wade.

In April 2023, Paglia stirred further controversy for remarks he made on euthanasia during a Journalism Festival in Perugia. While emphasizing his personal opposition to euthanasia and assisted suicide, he outlined conditions for an eventual Italian law managing assisted suicide, the drafting of which has been a point of debate in Italy for some time.

In August 2024, the PAV published a text, “Small Lexicon on End of Life,” loosening the rules for the provision of food and hydration for patients in a vegetative state.

While reaffirming the Church’s opposition to euthanasia and assisted suicide, it also shifted toward a new openness from the Vatican when it comes to so-called “aggressive treatment,” specifically the requirement to provide food and hydration to individuals in a vegetative state.

Pegoraro’s appointment is seen by most observers as a fairly routine nomination, as it is typical for the pope to promote the second-in-command when the prefect or president of a Vatican department retires, and it is at least probable that this appointment was already arranged before Pope Leo was elected.

In that sense, it will be far more interesting to see who Pope Leo names as chancellor to replace Pegoraro, as it will potentially be a better indication of his own ideas for the direction the PAV will take.

However, Pegoraro’s appointment has also raised questions about how he will handle mixed feelings inside the PAV among academicians after so much recent controversy.

Some academics are hoping for a return to the days of the more conservative-minded Cardinal Elio Sgreccia, who led the academy from 2005-2008, as the flexibility and dialectic approach taken more recently has made many of the members uneasy.

Pegoraro, who graduated from the University of Padua with a degree in Medicine and Surgery in 1985, and who holds Licentiate in Moral Theology and a Diploma from the Advanced Course in Bioethics, is a welcome appointment from a scientific point of view, as he is seen by at least some members has having far stronger scientific credentials.

He is also held in high regard in European medical and bioethical circles, having become a professor of bioethics at the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy and Secretary General of the Lanza Foundation: Center for Advanced Studies in Ethics, Bioethics, and Environmental Ethics in 1993.

Since 1998, Pegoraro has been a member of the European Society for Philosophy of Medicine and Healthcare, serving as its president from 2005-2007, and since 2000 he has been a Professor of Nursing Ethics at the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital in Rome.

Pegoraro is also a member of the European Association of Centers of Medical Ethics serving as president from 2010 to 2013, and he is also a member of the International Association for Education in Ethics. In 2011, he was appointed Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

He has also apparently gained respect in European bioethical circles for not playing up his status as a priest, or being too in-your-face with the Church’s teachings, allowing him to get his points across and gain the respect of secular peers without beating his chest.

Having served under two PAV presidents with different approaches, and having worked well with both, Pegoraro is seen as not only capable and scientifically competent, but able to work well amid a variety of personalities and opinions.

However, questions remain about his stance on some issues, such as whether he supports Paglia’s position on euthanasia and legislation governing it, and what type of “dialogue with scientific disciplines” and “transdisciplinary approach” he has in mind.

What exactly Pegoraro will do remains to be seen, however, what is certain is that he is beginning his mandate in a sharply divided political and ecclesial landscape, with these divides also felt within the PAV itself, especially after the controversies in recent years, and navigating this will be no easy feat.

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen