Pope Leo XIV's decision to appoint Archbishop Paglia’s closest collaborator – Msgr. Renzo Pegoraro – as the new president of the Pontifical Academy has led to confusion and disappointment.
(LifeSiteNews) -- When the radically Bergoglian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia was finally removed from the Pontifical Academy for Life and the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family, many of us – pro-life Catholics, parents, medical professionals, theologians – felt a moment of relief.
We thought the era of scandal, ambiguity, and betrayal at the Church’s highest bioethics office might finally be over.
We took it as a promising sign for Pope Leo XIV, coming so soon after his election.
But that hope has been met with confusion – and deep disappointment at what’s happened at the Pontifical Academy for Life.
We need to discuss what’s just happened, what it means for the Church’s witness on life, and why we’re making this heartfelt appeal to Leo XIV.
What’s happened: Pegoraro and PagliaThis week, Pope Leo XIV appointed Archbishop Paglia’s closest collaborator – Msgr. Renzo Pegoraro – as the new president of the Pontifical Academy. The man who stood beside Paglia through every controversy… is now in charge.
This decision goes beyond symbolism. It signals continuity with Paglia’s vision – and that signal is deeply troubling.
But before we can talk about Pegoraro, we need to remember who Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia really was.
Paglia wasn’t just any bishop, occupying minor roles in the Vatican. He was the man entrusted with the leadership of the most visible pro-life institutions.
In 2016, he was handpicked by Pope Francis to lead BOTH the Pontifical Academy for Life and the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family.
This was shocking, because Paglia’s record was appalling – disgusting, in fact.
Paglia's disturbing recordPaglia had commissioned a huge, blasphemous mural in his cathedral – painted by an openly homosexual artist – featuring eroticized images of naked drug dealers, prostitutes, and transsexuals being lifted to heaven.
And in one of those nets, semi-nude and clutching another man, was none other than Archbishop Paglia himself.
An accident? The artist – Ricardo Cinalli, known for his paintings of male bodies and who admitted that the mural was supposed to be erotic – was selected by Paglia himself. He, and a priest Father Fabio Leonardis, reportedly oversaw every detail of Cinalli’s work.
“Working with him was humanly and professionally fantastic,” Cinalli said, and praised him for never bringing up salvation or the state of his soul.
Paglia micromanaged every detail of the mural. As the artist himself said: “There was no detail that was done freely, at random. Everything was analyzed. Everything was discussed. They never allowed me to work on my own.”
And what wasn’t discussed? Salvation.
“Never, in four months,” Cinalli said, “during which we saw each other almost three times each week, did Paglia ever ask me if I believed in salvation. He never placed me in an uncomfortable position.”
Instead, Cinalli painted Paglia – semi-nude, clutched by another man – ascending to heaven in a net.
The whole episode was grotesque.
But the scandal didn’t end there.
Paglia's demolition of the JPII InstituteOnce elevated in Rome, Paglia began systematically dismantling the John Paul II Institute.
In 2019, he gutted the JP2 Institute by dismissing the president Monsignor Livio Melina, and suspending all professors. He then hired new staff who advocated for moral positions contrary to the teaching of the Catholic Church, including the blessing of homosexual couples and the reception of the sacraments.
The Catholic media world called it a “purge.”
A similar purge took place at the Pontifical Academy for Life. In 2016, Francis released new statutes for it, meaning that members were no longer required to declare that they upheld the Church’s pro-life teaching.
Paglia himself even praised Italy’s abortion law as a “pillar of society.” Obviously he also attacked Catholics opposed to taking abortion-tainted Covid-19 injections.
He glorified Marco Pannella – a militant promoter of abortion, homosexual “marriage,” and the dissolution of the Catholic Church’s legal status in Italy – calling him a “man of great spirituality.”
He oversaw a Vatican sex-ed program so pornographic that psychologists basically compared it to the grooming materials used by predators.
And when confronted with accusations of financial misconduct – funneling charitable donations into renovating his apartment – Paglia threatened to sue journalists rather than come clean.
This was the man entrusted with defending life and family. It would be scarcely believable – but it is fully documented.
It is no exaggeration to say: under Paglia, the Pontifical Academy for Life became unrecognizable.
What began as a beacon of Catholic moral clarity became a platform for – let’s use the word – heresy.
And so, when Leo XIV removed Paglia from the John Paul II Institute, there was hope. Hope that this period of shame might finally be over.
But that hope is now clouded – because the man replacing him at the Academy for Life is the very deputy who helped carry all of this out, and never raised his voice in protest.
Who is Renzo Pegoraro?Pegoraro is not an outsider coming in. He’s the apprentice being given the master’s tools.
Let’s start with the facts. Msgr. Renzo Pegoraro has been chancellor of the Pontifical Academy for Life since 2011, where he served under two presidents.
As chancellor, Pegoraro was the second-highest official, deeply involved in shaping the academy’s direction, overseeing its daily operations, and co-signing its most significant decisions.
So when the academy was radically restructured under Pope Francis…
- When 172 faithful members were dismissed in 2016
- When the pro-life pledge requirement was removed
- When new members were added who supported abortion, contraception, or even professed atheism…
… Renzo Pegoraro was there. He was not objecting or distancing himself from what was happening: he was cooperating with the execution.
And that’s just the beginning.
Public positions: contraception and assisted suicideIn 2022, Pegoraro gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal. He said that contraception might be permissible when there is a “conflict between the need to avoid pregnancy for medical reasons and the preservation of a couple’s sex life.”
The Church is unequivocal: contraception is always intrinsically evil. No circumstance – no matter how emotionally compelling – can make it good or even tolerable.
That same year, Pegoraro gave comments to La Croix on assisted suicide. Here’s what he said:
“We are in a specific context, with a choice to be made between two options, neither of which – assisted suicide or euthanasia – represents the Catholic position,” he told Le Croix.
Faced with the choice between assisted suicide and euthanasia, he said that – since a law was coming anyway – assisted suicide would be the better option, with fewer abuses:
“Assisted suicide is the one that most restricts abuses because it would be accompanied by four strict conditions: the person asking for help must be conscious and able to express it freely, have an irreversible illness, experience unbearable suffering and depend on life-sustaining treatment such as a respirator.”
As Cardinal Willem Eijk said in response – himself a medical doctor – there is “no significant moral difference” between assisted suicide and euthanasia. Both are murder. Both involve direct, intentional killing. And both are totally incompatible with Catholic moral law.
A pleading appeal to Pope Leo XIVBut where, in all this, is Pope Leo XIV?
He has spoken about peace, unity, and Augustine. But St. Augustine taught that peace is the tranquillity of order – the right ordering of things in accordance with the truth.
Some praised Leo’s appointment of Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar general of Rome, as Grand Chancellor of the John Paul II institute. That’s because Reina himself had shown support for life issues, and has been “accused” of being against the LGBT agenda.
But unity isn’t achieved by a peace between good and evil, light and darkness, Christ and Belial. That’s how it looks: like the PAV is being given a liberal, and the JP2I a conservative.
Reina’s own recorded words, however, cast doubt on his conservative credentials. Before the Conclave, he urged cardinals to go forward with Francis’ direction.
“This cannot be the time for manoeuvres, tactics, caution,” he said in a sermon to the cardinals. “Not a time to follow the instinct to turn back, or worse, to retaliate or seek alliances of power. What is needed is a radical willingness to enter into God’s dream, entrusted to our poor hands.”
The truth is this: The Pontifical Academy for Life is in ruins. The John Paul II Institute lies buried under relativism, pragmatism, and soft betrayals.
All because of the Francis-Paglia legacy.
By appointing Pegoraro, is Leo XIV making a statement – and if so, what is it? Is he trying to preserve balance, to avoid shocks, to buy time? Or to continue the Francis legacy?
But time is the one thing we do not have. Outside the walls of the Vatican, life is being destroyed on an industrial scale. Contraception is treated as normal. The abortion mills keep turning. Euthanasia is sweeping through Western law (with Macron praising the Freemasons for their help there). And so many people – young couples, medical workers, bishops – are looking to Rome for clarity, for leadership, for courage.
They are not interested in a hermeneutic of continuity with Francis.
Call to actionThat is why we are praying, hoping and calling for Pope Leo XIV to restore both the John Paul II Institute and the Pontifical Academy for Life. They were created to build a culture of life, not a dialogue with death.
They need to proclaim the sanctity of life from the moment of conception to natural death. Clearly. Unambiguously. Courageously.
Because the Church’s mission is not to accommodate the world – but to make disciples of all nations.
