Bishop Elio Sgreccia, the 82-year old former head of the Pontifical
Academy of Life, expressed surprise at being named a cardinal by Pope
Benedict XVI.
"I understand it as an encouragement for the work that I humbly seek
to do," Bishop Sgreccia said in an interview with Vatican Radio Oct. 20,
shortly after the Pope announced his appointment of 24 new cardinals at
the conclusion of his weekly general audience.
Cardinal-designate Sgreccia is a bioethicist. He has worked
extensively on the spiritual side of medicine "full time" for the better
part of the last four decades.
He has been an organizer and member of
numerous international and Italian national commissions for bioethics
while also serving as director of the bioethics programs at two Catholic
universities in Rome in the 1980s and 1990s.
From 1992-1996 he served as secretary of the Pontifical Council for
the Family. He spent the remainder of his Vatican career at the
Pontifical Academy for Life, holding the position of vice president from
1994-2005 and president from 2005-2008.
Among his many publications is his two-volume "Manual of Bioethics," an authoritative guide to Church positions in the field.
Cardinal-designate Sgreccia continues to study scientific issues
related birth control, stem-cell research, cloning and genetic
technology.
His selection as a cardinal, he said, is “a further motivation to
continue on this path. As long as I can, I will mobilize people so that
they promote human life and its dignity in all its aspects.”
"This is an infinite field," he explained, "beautiful and worthy of being followed by many people."
SIC: CNA/INT'L