Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, has reiterated that Pope Francis and the Council of Cardinals are continuing to discuss curial reform.
During a briefing held this afternoon in the Holy See Press Office, the Vatican spokesman informed journalists about the 15th Session of the “Council of Cardinals,” often called the “C9,” which began Monday and ended this afternoon in the Vatican.
Fr. Lombardi noted that the members and the Pope participated in all its meetings, with the only exception being the Pope on Wednesday morning due to his weekly General Audience.
The majority of consultations were again devoted to further considerations on the various dicasteries of the Curia, the subject of previous meetings, in view of the new apostolic constitution. Special attention was paid to the Congregation for Bishops, the Secretariat of State, the Congregations for Catholic Education, the Oriental Churches and the Clergy, and the Pontifical Councils for Culture, for Promoting Christian Unity, and for Interreligious Dialogue.
The results of the considerations during prior sessions regarding various Congregations – for the Doctrine of the Faith, Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Causes of Saints, Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life – as well as the new dicastery on “Charity, Justice and Peace” (which as mentioned previously, will incorporate the current competences of Justice and Peace, Cor Unum, Health Care Workers, Migrants and Itinerant Peoples) have been entrusted to the Pope for further examination and consultations as he may consider appropriate.
The criteria of these reflections have included, for instance, simplification, harmonization of the tasks of the difference organisms, and possible forms of decentralization in relation with the Episcopal Conferences.
Updates were given by the coordinator of the Council for the Economy, Cardinal Marx, and the prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, Cardinal Pell, on issues within their competence.
On the part of the prefect of the Secretariat for Communication, Msgr. Dario Viganò reported on the progress of reforms of the Holy See system of communication, on the ongoing re-evaluation of work organisation and on production processes, and on the process of integration, especially with regard to Vatican Radio and the Vatican Television Centre during the current year. The Council expressed its gratitude and encouraged the continuing progress on this path.
Cardinal O’Malley reported on the activity of the Commission for the Protection of Minors, and introduced an exchange of reflections on the Pope’s new Motu Proprio (“Like a Loving Mother”, published on 4 June).
The Council of Cardinals consists of the following nine prelates: Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State; Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, Archbishop Emeritus of Santiago, Chile; Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay; Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich; Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, Archbishop of Kinshasa, Congo; Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston; Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy; Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras; and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State.
The next two sessions of the Council of Cardinals are scheduled for Sept. 12-14 and Dec. 12-14.
