Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia said Pope Francis deliberately sought to “recreate” the Pontifical Academy for Life and the John Paul II Institute in order to move Catholic theology beyond what he described as a “moralistic” framework based on natural law.
On May 21, in an interview published by the Italian outlet Settimana News, Paglia gave an extensive account of the reforms he carried out under Pope Francis at the Pontifical Academy for Life and the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences, arguing that both institutions had to be transformed in order to align with the theological and pastoral direction promoted during Francis’ pontificate, especially after the Synods on the Family and the publication of Amoris Laetitia in 2016.
“One of the nerve centers of the whole operation,” Paglia said, “was the rethinking of the concept of nature, which stood at the foundation of a static and immutable vision of natural law, and with it the questioning of the essentialist and ahistorical paradigm on which all sexual and family moral theology developed until now had rested.”
Paglia added that critics of the reforms understood their implications correctly. “Here the opponents understood well: a very profound reform was at stake,” he admitted.
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