Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Academy, commented on the appointments, saying that “with these appointments Pope Francis has formed a College of academics of the highest professional standing that will offer to the Catholic Church and to the whole world a deep and wise vision in the service of human life, especially life that is weakest and most defenseless. The Academicians named by the Holy Father come from 27 countries around the world and are outstanding in diverse fields of human knowledge. Among them are a number of non-Catholics, either belonging to other religions and non-believers, a sign that the protection and promotion of human life knows no divisions and can be assured only through common endeavor.” With respect to the appointment of Honorary Members, Archbishop Paglia noted that, “They represent the history of the Academy and a passion for human life for which we must all be grateful; it is thanks to the earlier work of so many illustrious men and women that today, with the appointment of new Academicians, our institution continues its service to life with renewed energy.”

The Governing Council of the Academy, which will be appointed by the Holy See pursuant to the Statutes and the Regulations of the Academy, will appoint Corresponding Members and Young Researchers (a new membership category created in the Statutes promulgated by Pope Francis in 2016), and thus fill out the membership of the Academy.

The Ordinary Assembly of the Academy, scheduled for October 4-6 in the Vatican, will be opened by Pope Francis, and will constitute the official launch of the renewed Academy.

The following is the list of Ordinary and Honorary Members appointed by Pope Francis.

The Holy Father has appointed as Ordinary Members for a five-year term:

● Professor Etsuko AKIBA, Professor of Law in the Department of Economics at the University of Toyama (Japan);

● Professor Carl Albert ANDERSON, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, Professor and Vice President of the United States Section of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, Washington, DC (United States);

● Professor Nigel BIGGAR, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology, and Director of the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Life, at the University of Oxford (Great Britain);

● Most Reverend Alberto Germán BOCHATEY CHANETON, O.S.A., Titular Bishop of Mons in Mauretania, Auxiliary Bishop of La Plata, Professor of Bioethics and Vice Chancellor of the Universidad Católica de La Plata (Argentina);

● Reverend Maurizio CHIODI, Professor of Moral Theology at the Istituto Superiore di Scienze Religiose, Bergamo, Italy, and the Facoltà Teologica dell’Italia Settentrionale, Milan, Italy, and Spiritual Assistant at the Centro Volontari della Sofferenzain Bergamo (Italy);

● Most Reverend Fernando Natalio CHOMALĺ GARIB,Arcbishop of Concepción; Professor of Theological Anthropology and Bioethics at the Centro de Bioéticaof the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile,Santiago de Chile (Chile);

● Reverend Roberto COLOMBO, Professor of Neurobiology and Human Genetics at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy, and Director of the Centro per lo Studio delle Malattie Ereditarie Rareat the Niguarda Ca’ GrandaHospital, Milan (Italy);

● Professor Francesco D’AGOSTINO, Professor of the Philosophy of Law in the School of Law at the Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”; Honorary President of the Italian National Committee for Bioethics; President of the Central Ethics Committee of the Region of Latium (Italy);

● Professor Jokin DE IRALA ESTÉVEZ, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, and Coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Project La Educación de la Sexualidad y Afectividadat the University of Navarre (Spain);

● His Eminence, Willem Jacobus Cardinal EIJK, Archbishop of Utrecht (Netherlands)

● Professor Mounir Abdel Messih Shehata FARAG, Director of the Saint Joseph Pro-Life Pro-Family Institute, Cairo (Egypt);

● Most Reverend Anthony Colin FISHER,Archbishop of Sydney; Professor of Bioethics and Moral Theology at the Australia Session of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, Melbourne (Australia);

● Kathleen M. FOLEY,M.D., Attending Neurologist in the Pain and Palliative Care Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Professor of Neurology, Neuroscience, and Clinical Pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medicine of Cornell University (United States);

● Reverend Aníbal GIL LOPES, Professor of Physiology at the Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filhoat the Universidade Federal do Rio De Janeiro(Brazil);

● Doctor Rodrigo GUERRE LOPEZ,Professor of Philosophy and Presidente of the Superior Council of the Centro de Investigation Social Avanzada, Santiago de Querétaro (Mexico);

● Doctor John M. HAAS,President of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, Philadelphia (United States)

● Professor. Mohamed HADDAD,Professor of Arab Civilization and Comparative Religion at the University of Carthage – Higher Institute of Languages, Tunis (Tunisia);

● Professor Ignatius John KEOWN,Professor of Christian Ethics at Georgetown University, Washington, DC (United States);

● Professor Kostantinos KORNARAKIS,Professor di Christian Ethics (Orthodox Spirituality) in the Department of Theology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece);

● Professor Katarina LE BLANC, Assistant Head of the Division of Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm; Professor at the Hematology Center of Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Stockholm (Sweden);

● Professor Alain F. G. LEJEUNE,Professor of Pharmaceutical Law and Deontology at the Université Catholique de Louvain(Belgium); Member of the French Académie Nationale de Pharmacie and Secretary of its Ethical Commission;

● Professor Jean-Marie LE MÉNÉ,Founder and President of the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation, Paris (France);

● Doctor Mónica LOPEZ BARAHONA,Academic Director General of the Centro de Estudios Biosanitarios; Madrid; President of the Spanish Delegation of the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation and Director of the Foundation’s Jérôme Lejeune Chair of Bioethics, Madrid (Spain);

● Professor Ivan LUTS,Director of the Medical College at the Lviv National Medical University; President of the Ukrainian Association of Catholic Physicians (Ukraine);

● Prof. Manfred LÜTZ, Chief Physician at the Alexian Hospital, Cologne-Porz (Germany);

● Most Reverend Daniel NLANDU MAYI, Bishop of Matadi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Diocesan Life Education Service; Member of the Board of Directors of the Catholic University of the Congo, Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo);

● Professor Anne-Marie PELLETIER, Professor of Sacred Scripture, Bible and Liturgy at the École Cathédrale and the Studium de la Faculté Notre Dameof the Seminary of Paris; Professor of Philosophical and Biblical Anthropology at the Studium Théologique Inter-monastères(France);

● Professor Adrian MESSINA,Professor of Moral Philosophy and Director of the Centro di Ateneo di Bioeticaat the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan (Italy);

● Reverend Monsignor Luño Ángel RODRĺGUEZ,Professor of Fundamental Moral Theology at the Pontificia Università della Santa Croce, Roma (Italy);

● Professor Alejandro César SERANI MERLO,Professor and Researcher at the Centro de Bioéticaand the School of Medicine at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile,Santiago de Chile (Chile);

● Most Reverend Noël SIMARD,Bishop of Valleyfield, Francophone Spokesman for the Canadian Bishops Conference for Bioethical Questions, euthanasia in particular (Canada);

● Very Reverend Jacques Koudoubi SIMPORÉ,M.I., Rector of the University of Saint Thomas Aquinas and Director of the Pietro AnnigoniCenter for Biomolecular Research, Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso);

● Professor Avraham STEINBERG,Director of the Medical Ethics Unit of the Shaare ZedekMedical Center, Jerusalem, Director of the Editorial Committee of the Talmudic Encyclopedia (Israel);

● Professor Jaroslav ŠTURMA, Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Catholic Theology at the Charles University in Prague; Director of the Sunbeam Child Development Center, Prague (Czechia);

● Professor William F. SULLIVAN, Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the Medical School of the University of Toronto; President of the International Association of Catholic Bioethicists (Canada);

● Professor Daniel SULMASY,Professor of Bioethics at Georgetown University, Washington, DC (United States);

● Professor Fernando SZLAJEN,Rabbi, Director of the Department of Culture of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina, Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Letters at the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina);

● Professor Marie-Jo THIEL,Professor di Catholic Theology and Director of the Centre Européen d’Enseignement et de Recherche en Éthique at the Université de Strasbourg (France);

● Reverend Tomi THOMAS ,I.M.S., Director-General of The Catholic Health Association of India, Secunderabad, Hyderabad (India);

● Professor Angelo VESCOVI, Scientific Director of the Casa Sollievo della SofferenzaHospital (Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico-IRCCS), San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, and of the Gregor Mendel Human Genetics Institute, Rome (Italy);

● Professor Alberto VILLANI,Director of the General Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases Service at the Bambino GesùPediatric Hospital (Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico-IRCCS), Rome; President of the Italian Pediatrics Society (Italy);

● Professor Shinya YAMANAKA,Director and Professor at the Center for Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University, and a Professor at the Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences at Kyoto University; Nobel Laureate in Medicine 2012 (Japan);

● Professor René ZAMORA MARĺN,Director and Professor at the Centro de Bioética Juan Pablo II, Havana (Cuba).

In addition, His Holiness has named as named as Ordinary Members of the Academy until their eightieth birthday:

● Professor Bruno DALLAPICCOLA,Scientific Director of the Bambino GesùPediatric Hospital (Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico-IRCCS), Rome; Member of the Italian National Council for Bioethics and of its Mixed Group; Member of the Italian National Committee for Biosecurity, Biotechnologies and Life Sciences; Member of the Italian Superior Health Council (Italy);

● Professor Alicja GRZEŚKOWIAK, Emeritus Professor of Criminal Law at the Catholic University of Lublin, Poland; Professor at the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Graduate School in Bydgoszcz (Poland)

Finally, His Holiness has named as Honorary Members of the Academy:

● His Eminence Carlo Cardinal CAFFARRA,Archbishop Emeritus of Bologna, Olim President of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family (Italy);

● Most Reverend lgnacio CARRASCO DE PAULA, Titular Bishop of Thapsus; President Emeritus of the Pontifical Academy for Life (Spain);

● Mrs. Birthe LEJEUNE,Vice President of the Jéróme Lejeune Foundation, Paris; widow of the first President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, the Servant of God Jérôme Lejeune;

● His Eminence, Elio Cardinal SGRECCIA,President Emeritus of the Pontifical Academy for Life; President of the International Federation of Centers and Institutes of Bioethics of the Personalist School, President of the Ut Vitam Habeant Foundation (Vatican City);

● Doctor Juan de Dios VIAL CORREA,President Emeritus of the Pontifical Academy for Life and Rector Emeritus of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile,Santiago de Chile(Chile).