The members of this commission elected by the synodal fathers included none from a Spanish-speaking country. So the Pope appointed Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, archbishop of Lima, Peru.
Neither was there a representative from the Slav world, so Benedict XVI named Bishop Djura Dzudzar, apostolic exarch of Serbia and Montenegro for Byzantine-rite Catholics.
Prior to the synod’s voting for the commission’s members, the Holy See had named as its president Cardinal Marc Ouellet, archbishop of Quebec, and as vice president Auxiliary Bishop Salvatore Fisichella of Rome.
The commission’s members, elected Wednesday by electronic voting, represent different continents. They are: Cardinal Ivan Dias of Bombay, India; Cardinal Claudio Hummes of Sao Paulo; Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kisangani, Congo; and Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, Italy.
The commission includes a representative of the Eastern Churches, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, Lebanon; of the Roman Curia, Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; and of the superiors of religious congregations, Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach, general of the Society of Jesus.
