Amid controversy Pope-emeritus Benedict meets sacked professor

Last week the Pope Emeritus met with a professor of moral theology who was recently dismissed from Rome’s Pontifical John Paul II Institute.

His dismissal came amid ongoing controversy regarding recent changes to the Institute.

Benedict XVI, who has had a long-standing relationship with the Institute that well pre-dates his papacy, invited Monsignor Livio Melina to meet with him “at a private audience,” a source close to Melina says.

Benedict has also long-admired Melina’s work.

“After a long discussion of the recent events at the Pontifical Institute of John Paul II, he granted his blessing, expressing his personal solidarity and assuring him of his closeness in prayer.”

Melina, who was president of the Institute from 2006 until 2016, was dismissed from the institute after the recent promulgation of new statutes for the graduate school.

These included a decision to eliminate the chair of moral theology, which Melina held.

The new statutes were first called for in 2017, when Pope Francis announced he would legally re-found the Institute, and broaden its academic curriculum.

This would see a change from a focus on the theology of marriage and the family to include the study of the family from the perspective of the social sciences.

When the new statutes were approved last month, students, alumni and faculty raised a number of concerns.

More than 250 students and alumni of the Institute have signed a letter expressing their concern about the school’s new statutes, the role of faculty members in the Institute’s new governing structure, the reduction of theology courses and the elimination of some theology disciplines.

They also expressed their distress about the dismissal of some faculty members, including Melina and his colleague Fr Jose Noriega. The faculty dismissals have taken place without due process, they said.

In addition, the letter notes current students will not be able to complete the academic programmes in which they are involved.

While faculty members say they have no objection to Francis’s desire to expand the school’s mission or approach, they say the administrators responsible for implementing that mission have acted unfairly.

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