NOTABLES: Persons of interest

Pope names NIH director
to Vatican think tank
By Francis X. Rocca
Religion News Service




VATICAN CITY, Oct. 14 — Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, to the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Collins, 59, is the geneticist who led the Human Genome Project, the international research project that mapped out the body's complete genetic code in 2003. Among his other accomplishments, he was part of the team that in 1989 identified the gene causing cystic fibrosis.

An evangelical Christian, Collins is also prominent for his efforts to reconcile scientific knowledge with religious faith.

His best-selling book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (2006), argued for the compatibility of Darwin's theory of natural selection with the existence of a creator God.

Rejecting both creationism and intelligent design, Collins espoused "theistic evolution" as an explanation for the existence of the universe and life.

Collins' well-known religious views reportedly aroused criticism from some fellow scientists after President Obama chose him to head the NIH in July.

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences was founded in 1603 and claims to have been the "first exclusively scientific academy in the world." Its 80 members, who include many Nobel laureates and other luminaries including the physicist Stephen Hawking, meet for a plenary session at the Vatican every two years.


I am glad someone came out with this. I had every good intention of putting something together about Francis Collins - there's lots of great stuff about him on the Web - when I read his appointment two days ago (along with another US scientist, by the way) but have not gotten round to it.


The following story comes out of Cardinal Kasper's news conference at the Vatican today to present his new book Harvesting the Fruits. Basic Aspects of Christian Faith in Ecumenical Dialogue. As usual, the headline writer attributes Kasper's personal statement to the 'Vatican'.

I have not checked it out, but I don't think that in modern times, the Vatican - i.e., the Holy See as a state, which, in the secular view, is idnetical to the Roman Catholic Church - has ever publicly commented on the private actions of anyone (outside of priests and prelates who are being investigated for questionable actions or outright offenses). Personal sins are a matter for the confessional not for the media.


Vatican renews appeal
for ‘sobriety’ in Berlusconi’s Italy
By Flavia Krause-Jackson and Flavia Rotondi




ROME, Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Italy needs a return to “sobriety” in its political life, a top Vatican official said, renewing his criticism of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the sex scandals surrounding him.

The official, Cardinal Walter Kasper, in May was the first Vatican official to speak up when Berlusconi became embroiled in a scandal that prompted his wife to seek a divorce. Kasper told daily La Stampa on May 6 that the premier’s behavior was “strange.”

In an interview with Bloomberg today, Kasper said, “there needs to be greater sobriety in politics.”

Berlusconi courted controversy by attending the birthday party of a teenage girl in April. In June a self-proclaimed escort said she had sex with the premier on the night of Barack Obama’s election. Berlusconi said June 23 he’s “never paid a woman” for sex.

The Vatican has avoided making direct statements about Italian politics since the scandals involving Berlusconi surfaced, preferring to express its views through its media outlets including Church newspaper Avvenire.

Dino Boffo, Avvenire’s editor-in-chief, stepped down last month after Berlusconi family-owned daily Il Giornale accused him of homosexual harassment and of being “hypocritical” in demanding explanations about the premier’s ties to women.