Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, has defended the appointment of Nigel Biggar, an Anglican philosopher who has supported abortion up to 18 weeks, as a member.
Archbishop Paglia told La Stampa he had not been aware of Professor Biggar’s views at the time of the appointment. He also said that Biggar had been recommended for the academy by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Justin Welby.
In 2011, Prof Biggar told Standpoint magazine: “I would be inclined to draw the line for abortion at 18 weeks after conception, which is roughly about the earliest time when there is some evidence of brain activity, and therefore of consciousness. In terms of maintaining a strong social commitment to preserving human life in hindered forms, and in terms of not becoming too casual about killing human life, we need to draw the line much more conservatively.”
Prof Biggar also said: “It’s not clear that a human foetus is the same kind of thing as an adult or a mature human being, and therefore deserves quite the same treatment. It then becomes a question of where we draw the line, and there is no absolutely cogent reason for drawing it in one place over another.”
Archbishop Paglia said Prof Biggar’s view was “certainly not my personal position, and much less the academy”.
The archbishop said Prof Biggar had not published articles arguing his view on abortion, nor does he intend to. Biggar’s academic focus is on end-of-life matters, “where he has a position that coincides with Catholicism”, Archbishop Paglia said.
Prof Biggar is one of 45 new ordinary members of the academy. One other new appointee, Rabbi Professor Avraham Sternberg, has also supported abortion in some cases.
Vatican II contributed to abuse scandal, claims priest
A priest has told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry that the reforms of the Second Vatican Council contributed to the Church’s “horrible mistakes” on abuse.According to the Scottish Catholic Observer, Mgr Peter Smith, former chancellor of Glasgow archdiocese, said the Church accepted conventional wisdom of the 1970s that it was “better to repair the , to fix them or to redeem them”, than punish them. In that era priests accused of abuse could be sent for therapy rather than face criminal charges.
The Second Vatican Council, Mgr Smith said, “made a significant difference to the whole way that the Church proceeded … asked us to proceed pastorally and caring for people”, rather than having an earlier “legalistic” approach.
“That pastoral care was exercised very strongly towards the priests who had been accused and perhaps less strongly towards those who had been on the receiving end of such a vicious thing,” he said. Vatican II “breathed fresh air through the system”, he said, but meant “people didn’t pay attention to some of the things that might have been more important”.
Two priests ordained in Old Rite
Archbishop Malcolm McMahon of Liverpool ordained two men to the priesthood on Saturday.The priests, ordained at St Mary’s Shrine church in Warrington, were Alex Stewart from Liverpool and Krzysztof Sanetra, a Pole, both members of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP). It is thought to be the first time in decades that Extraordinary Form ordinations have taken place in England and Wales.
