The President of the Pontifical Academy of Life has defended the appointment of a pro-choice economist to the body. Pope Francis appointed Italian-American economist and professor at University College London, Mariana Mazzucato, on 15 October, along with six other academics, to serve a five-year term with the Pontifical Academy.
On several occasions after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the US Supreme Court in June, Mazzucato shared her pro-choice views on Twitter. On 25 June she responded to a tweet which included a video by commentator Anahit Misak Kasparian.
“I don’t care that you’re a Christian. I don’t care what the Bible says. Like, I feel like it’s a clown show, like sitting here trying to decipher what your little mythical book has to say about these very real political issues, right,” Kasparian said in the video, rejecting the right of believers to impose their views on non-believers, while at the same time defending religious freedom.
Mazzucato commented: “So good!” Between 23 June and 3 July Mazzucato endorsed at least six other pro-choice comments, including ones by Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and US Senator Elizabeth Warren.
In the wake of criticism, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the academy, told Catholic News Service on 20 October that all the members, including Professor Mazzucato, “defend life in its entirety.”
He and the academy also are “against euthanasia, against assisted suicide, against social inequalities, against the death penalty, against arming children, against violence, against every coercive power and against all forms of totalitarianism”, he said.
“The choice of Mazzucato came from recommendations of several academicians to address attacks on life that come from inequality.” He pointed out that according to Save the Children, some two million children die of malnutrition each year. “Obviously, the Pontifical Academy for Life cannot ignore this tragic situation,” he said. “While the Catholic Church is opposed to abortion, it recognises that in some situations people of goodwill can support laws and public policy designed to reduce recourse to abortion while allowing the procedure in some cases.”
In 2016, with the appointment of Archbishop Paglia as president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Pope Francis approved new statutes that eliminated the requirement that members declare themselves “pro-life.” However, the academy’s new statutes still require members to conform with Church teaching.
The statutes say members, or academicians, appointed by the pope, can be of any religion, though they should “promote and defend the principles regarding the value of life and dignity of the human person, interpreted in a way that conforms to the Magisterium of the Church.”
Another appointment to the academy, Sheila Dinotshe Tlou, an expert on HIV/AIDS and women’s health from Botswana, has also been criticised for pro-choice views.
Loading ...
