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Email: "Papal Adviser, Vatican Spokesman Spar Publicly over Life, Unity and ‘Misrepresentation’"

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BY LifeSiteNews.com By Hilary White and John-Henry WestenROME, March 9, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a letter copied to LSN, a founding member of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV), Christine de Marcellus Vollmer, has written to the pope’s spokesman asking him publicly to correct statements he made following last month’s plenary meeting of the Academy. But Fr. Frederico Lombardi SJ, the head of the Vatican’s Press Office, has refused to retract his comments, saying in an email to LSN today that he is “personally shocked” that Vollmer’s letter was made public.At issue in the debate is the fallout of the so-called Recife Affair, where the head of the PAV Archbishop Rino Fisichella wrote an article for the Vatican newspaper in which he appeared to condone and defend the abortion of the twin children of a nine year-old Brazilian rape victim.  After the pope ordered a clarification of the Church’s stand denouncing abortion in all circumstances to be published in L’Osservatore Romano, many PAV members were satisfied that the situation was resolved.However, at a recent meeting of the PAV Archbishop Fisichella reignited the controversy by asserting that he stood by his controversial remarks.  Moreover, after February’s meeting, Fisichella gave an interview to the media outlet of the U.S. Bishops Conference (Catholic News Service) indicating there was harmony in the PAV regarding his statements and his leadership.  To correct what one concerned academy member called a “false image given to the press,” five senior members of the Academy, including Vollmer, sent a signed letter to LSN noting their “lack of confidence” in Fisichella’s leadership of the PAV.Following the publication of that statement, Fisichella and Fr. Lombardi responded to various media outlets (AP, CNA, CNS).  Fisichella claimed that the PAV meeting had been “serene” and that his critics had acted out of base political motives. Lombardi backed Fisichella, saying that the members’ statement had been “astounding” and “incorrect.”“It’s a bit strange that persons who are members of an academy address a request of this kind without addressing it to the competent authorities. It’s astounding and seems incorrect that such a document should be given public circulation,” Lombardi said at the time.In her letter, dated March 7, Vollmer, also a Member of the Pontifical Council for the Family, wrote that Lombardi’s comments had “misrepresented” the position taken by the five signatories.Vollmer wrote, “You have unfortunately misrepresented me and my colleagues by your remarks to the press and in L'Osservatore Romano regarding the Statement we published on February 19, 2010 and I ask you to print a correction for the information of the many interested parties worldwide.”In communications to LSN Vollmer explained that the signatories felt compelled in conscience to make public their disagreement with their President.  Moreover, another Academy member, Professor Joseph Seifert later revealed to LSN that the concerned Academy Members had at first made efforts to have the situation rectified internally, quietly and with the proper authorities. Today, however, Lombardi reiterated his original position, saying the publication of both the original statement and Vollmer’s letter had been “incorrect.”“I confirm that I consider it an incorrect method, inappropriate for the service of union in the Church and probably, in the last analysis, not in keeping with the values that [the statement’s signatories] seem to wish to defend,” he wrote.Read LSN’s extensive coverage of the “Recife Affair”here. http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/papal-adviser-vatican-spokesman-spar-publicly-over-life-unity-and-misrepres/

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