The nomination for the new head of the John Paul II Institute is the first major appointment made by Pope Leo XIV in the various offices of the Roman Curia, and is being welcomed by pro-life advocates.
By Catholics for Catholics
In an unexpected and contentious move, Pope Leo XIV removed a controversial Cardinal from a seminal Rome institution and replaced it with a substitute.
LifeSiteNews reported that Leo removed Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia as Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Theological Institute “John Paul II” for the Sciences of Marriage and the Family, and replaced him with Cardinal Baldassare Reina. Paglia had been appointed by Pope Francis in 2016.
Since Oct. 2024, Reina has been the vicar general of the Diocese of Rome; he was an auxiliary of the diocese two years before. He was created a cardinal in Dec. 2024.
During his tenure as Chancellor of the John Paul II Institute and as president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Paglia, under Francis’ direction, gutted the institutions by dismissing its president Monsignor Livio Melina and the immediate suspension of all professors in 2019, according to LifeSiteNews.
The new staff that were selected and placed in the institute, contrary to the prior administration, were selected for defending homosexuality and contraception.
Melina, according to LifeSiteNews, commented shortly afterwards that “if the decisions taken by Archbishop Paglia are not revoked, then what they are saying is: ‘The interpretation of the magisterium of Pope Francis in continuity with the previous Magisterium is intolerable in the Church.’”
Seasoned reporter Phil Lawler endorsed such thoughts, writing that “the purge at the John Paul II Institute has eliminated the faculty members most closely associated with the thought of the Pope — and canonized saint — after whom the Institute is named.”
The presidents that followed Melina began advocating for the acceptance of blessings for gay couples and their reception of the sacraments.
Still, after Francis replaced the staff of the John Paul II Institute, he faced substantial resistance from theologians and ethicists around the world, who were concerned about the direction the Vatican office was taking. Truly, the gutting of the Institute is still named today as one of the key controversies of the Francis papacy.
LifeSiteNews reports that analogous scenes took place at the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV). The Academy has been described as being tinged by “heretical gnosticism” after it was overhauled by Francis beginning in 2016. Among other things, the Pope released new statutes for the PAV in November 2016, in which members were no longer required to sign a declaration that they uphold the Church’s pro-life teachings, while also expanding the PAV’s mandate to include a focus on the environment.
Your action is key to winning the next Presidential Election.
