Pontifical Academy for Life

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Msgr. Renzo Pegoraro New President

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On May 27, 2025, Msgr. Renzo Pegoraro was appointed new President of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Vatican City, 27 May 2025.  “I thank Pope Leo XIV for appointing me President of the Pontifical Academy for Life. The work carried out in recent years alongside His Excellency Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia and, before him, alongside His Excellency Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, has been fascinating and stimulating, in line with the operational and thematic guidelines of the late Pope Francis”.

This was reiterated by Monsignor Renzo Pegoraro, former Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy for Life, appointed by Pope Leo XIV as President of the institution established by Saint John Paul II back in 1994.

As for the future, Monsignor Renzo Pegoraro emphasises his intention to "work in continuity with the themes and methodology of recent years, making the most of the specific competences of our large and qualified international and interreligious group of Academicians. I would like to highlight in particular the issues of global bioethics, dialogue with the scientific disciplines according to the transdisciplinary approach indicated by Pope Francis, artificial intelligence and biotechnology, and the promotion of respect and dignity for human life in all its stages. It will also be important to increasingly value the work of all the staff at the headquarters, now located in the Vatican compound of San Calisto."

The changeover is standard practice in the Roman Curia: upon reaching the age of 80, all appointments expire. The President Emeritus Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia received a letter from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, in which, on behalf of the Pope, "at the conclusion of the service entrusted to you as President of the Pontifical Academy for Life and Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Theological Institute John Paul II for Marriage and Family Sciences, the Holy Father expresses to Your Excellency his gratitude for having shared with him his concern for the whole Church. Therefore, moved by deep gratitude, the Roman Pontiff expresses his most fervent thanks for the service You have rendered."

Msgr. Renzo Pegoraro (born in Padua in 1959) graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Padua in 1985. He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Padua in 1989. He studied Philosophy and Theology in Padua and Rome, obtaining a License in Moral Theology and a Diploma in Advanced Bioethics. In 1993, he became professor of Bioethics at the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy, and Secretary General of the “Lanza Foundation” (Centre for Advanced Studies in Ethics, Bioethics and Environmental Ethics). Since 1998, he has been a member of the European Society for Philosophy of Medicine and Health (ESPMH), and was its president from 2005 to 2007. Since 2000, he has been Professor of Nursing Ethics at the Bambino Gesù Paediatric Hospital in Rome. He is a member of the European Association of Centres for Medical Ethics (EACME), and was its president from 2010 to 2013. He is a member of the International Association for Education in Ethics (IAEE). In 2011, he was appointed Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy for Life.