on 18 october 2016, pope francis approved new statutes for the academy, which ended the life terms of all its 172 current members. the statutes were made public on 5 november and scheduled to take effect on 1 january 2017. the new statutes dropped a statement academy members had been required to sign, promising to defend life in accordance with church teaching, though they required members to "promote and defend the principles regarding the value of life and the dignity of the human person interpreted in conformity with the magisterium of the church". they also established that members would be selected "without any religious discrimination" and that members would be appointed to five-year renewable terms rather than for life.