CV NEWS FEED // Pope Francis has appointed Nobel Prize winner Katalin Kariko, PhD, to the pontifical Academy for Life.
In a February 10 press release, the Vatican announced Kariko’s appointment to the Academy of life, the Vatican’s center for bioethics and moral theology surrounding human life issues.
Kariko is a biochemist and researcher most known for her mRNA research that shaped the Covid-19 vaccines eventually released by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
She was also recently awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize.
Kariko responded to the appointment in a video statement, saying she felt “deeply honored,” and “very grateful” to be recognized by Pope Francis.
“At the university I was demoted, I never received an academic grant, and in general, I was not popular with those who followed conventional science,” Kariko said.
“But I have a message,” she continued, adding:
It doesn’t matter the circumstances or the skepticism around you. What matters is your conviction, how hard you work to pursue your passion, and your-self belief that will achieve your goals.
Kariko currently serves as senior vice president at BioNTech and as an adjunct professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania.
In 2022 Pope Francis came under heavy criticism for appointing atheist and pro-abortion academic and economist Mariana Mazzucato to the Academy. At the time, the pontiff referred to Mazzucato as “a fresh breath of humanity.”
“If Mazzucato represents a breath of humanity in the Academy because she is an atheist and pro-abortion, then it means that not being an atheist and being against abortion denotes a lack of humanity,” stated an article from the Daily Compass following the appointment.
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