More roman malaria

A couple of weeks back, Sandro Magister reported on the controversy inside the Pontifical Academy for Life - The Pontifical Academy of Nonstop Fighting. This referred to fallout from the article written for L'Osservatore Romano by Archbishop Fisichella concerning the Recife case (see: Recife case and roman malaria). Five members of the Academy, including our own Luke Gormally and Tom Ward, called for the resignation of Archbishop Fisichella because the article (in addition to being unjust to the Bishop of Recife) seemed to compromise the Church's teaching on abortion. Therefore the authors said:
There is credible information that Fisichella is widely perceived in the Curia to be an inappropriate President of Pontifical Academy for Life and there is a reasonable hope that the Holy Father will recognise the need to provide him with an occupation better suited to his abilities.
The Italian blog of the great Magister (Settimo Cielo) has carried several related articles recently, including a spat over comments made by Fr Federico Lombardi, the Director of the Vatican Press Office. The most significant article is Accademia per la vita, addio. Fisichella fa le valigie per Siena. (Goodbye Academy for Life. Fisichella packs his bags for Siena.) The speculation is that Archbishop Fisichella recently refused the Diocese of Modena, had dreamed of being Cardinal Archbishop of Turin, but is in fact going to Siena.

Archbishop Fisichella seems to be taking the rap fair and square, and will probably be glad to get some fresh air away from Rome. Not for the first time, the Secretariat of State seems to come up smelling of roses while someone else takes the hit. I wonder just how long it can continue before a big enough gaffe brings about some changes there?

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