The Pontifical Academy for Life has postponed its annual assembly,
because at the moment the Academy has no members other than the new
president, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia.Last year Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Paglia, revised the statutes of the Vatican office, and purged the entire list of its members.
Vatican journalist Sando Magister remarks that the Academy now lists 172 “former” members, but no current members.
New appointments are now being considered, he writes.
The annual meeting of the Pontifical Academy, ordinarily scheduled early in the year, has been moved until October 2017.
The original plan for the annual assembly had been to focus on the Vatican instruction Donum Vitae, on artificial forms of reproduction.
That topic has been discarded, and the new topic - “Accompanying Life: New responsibilities in the technological era” - provides few clues about the Academy’s priorities.