Msgr. Renzo Pegoraro appointed President of Pontifical Academy for Life

Vatican, 27 May, 2025: Pope Leo XIV has appointed Msgr. Renzo Pegoraro as the new President of the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV), who has served as the Academy’s Chancellor since September 2011.

Msgr. Pegoraro, a bioethicist with a medical degree, succeeds Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who turned 80 on April 21.

In an Academy-issued statement, Msgr. Pegoraro expressed, "I thank Pope Leo XIV for appointing me as President of the Pontifical Academy for Life." "The work done over these years alongside Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, and previously with Bishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula," said the Italian-born priest, "has been both fascinating and stimulating, in line with the operational and thematic directions of the late Pope Francis."

Expert in Medicine and Bioethics

Born in the northern Italian city of Padua on June 4, 1959, Msgr. Pegoraro would later be ordained a priest on June 11, 1989. He was incardinated in the Diocese of Padua. He earned a degree in Medicine and Surgery in 1985 from the University of Padua, and, in 1990, he received a Licentiate in Moral Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He also has a Postgraduate Diploma in Bioethics from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.

The new President of the Academy for Life has served as Secretary General of the Lanza Foundation in Padua and as a Professor of Bioethics at the Theological Faculty of Triveneto. Since 2000, he has been a professor of Nursing Ethics at the "Bambino Gesù" Pediatric Hospital in Rome. From 2010 to 2013, he was president of the European Association of Centers of Medical Ethics. Msgr. Pegoraro has published several books, articles, and essays.

Pope thanks Archbishop Paglia for Service

In a letter signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, as reported in the Pontifical Academy for Life's statement, Pope Leo XIV expresses to Archbishop Paglia “his heartfelt thanks” for the service he rendered since 2016 as President of the Pontifical Academy for Life and as Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences.

Courtesy: Vatican News