The pope issued new statutes for the Academy on October 18, and removed all of its members.

"All members' terms ended on December 31, 2016; currently the Academy is waiting for the new appointments," Fr. Andrea Ciucci, a staff member of the Pontifical Council for the Family, told LifeSiteNews.

"We expect new members to be nominated by the appointment of the Holy Father within the next weeks," Ciucci explained. They expect 75 ordinary members to be appointed, he said. Together with the ordinary appointments, the pope is launching a sub-group called "College of Young Scholars," consisting of younger researchers in the given fields. Altogether the new appointees will not exceed 100 members.

Christine de Marcellus Vollmer, an Academy member since its founding by St. John Paul II in 1994, sent LifeSiteNews the Academy's Christmas letter in which directives were given and recent changes explained.

The letter addressed to all members announced Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia's nomination as president as well as the re-working of the statutes. At the same time it announced that annual recurring meetings would be suspended, de-inviting participants from a future assembly.

Vollmer explained that in May the Academy's members were invited for a general assembly in March 2017 which was then "postponed" indefinitely. This notice of delay was followed by a document explaining that all members were "suspended." Only recently news surfaced that the next general assembly is to take place October 2017.

Academy assemblies bring together specialists from all over the world to discuss a certain topic and have an interdisciplinary exchange of expertise.

Another Academy member, who wished to remain anonymous for "fear of jeopardizing reappointment," affirmed these developments.

"I did get a letter," the source told LifeSiteNews via email. "They said they were reconfiguring. They said people would be notified of reappointment. I have heard nothing so far but when I asked [they said] people could expect to hear about it in April or May..."

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