This morning, Greg Burke, the director of the Vatican press office, held a briefing on the 16th meeting of the Council of Cardinals with Pope Francis:
The Council of Cardinals met with the Holy Father for three days: Monday the 12th, Tuesday the 13th and Wednesday the 14th of September. All the members of the Council were present except Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, Archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, who was absent due to pastoral commitments. Pope Francis was absent this morning due to the General Audience.
On Monday and Tuesday the Cardinals concelebrated Holy Mass with the Pope.
The meetings were held in the morning from 9 to 12:30 and in the afternoon from 4:30 to 7:00 pm and they were dedicated to a great extent to further considerations on the way in which the Curia’s various discasteries can serve the Church’s mission better. In particular, this time attention was focused on the Congregations for the Clergy, for Bishops, for Catholic Education and on the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, was present for a session, referring both to the work of the Congregation as well as to that of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. The Cardinals reflected at length on the spiritual and pastoral profile necessary for a Bishop today. Then they addressed the topic of the Holy See’s diplomatic service, and of the formation and tasks of Apostolic Nuncios, with special attention to their great responsibility in the choice of candidates to the Episcopate.
The Council studied the subject of the “diakonia of justice” and also an ample dossier on the role of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
The Cardinal Counsellors then examined the last steps already taken in the process of reform, especially with the institution of the new Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development. The Secretariat for Communication handed a dossier to the Cardinals on the reform’s progress in the sector, and of the next steps, as projected.
Finally, the Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, Cardinal George Pell, referred to the latest developments of the Dicastery and Cardinal Sean O’Malley illustrated the novelties of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, presided over by him.
The next meeting of the Council of Cardinals will take place on the 12th, 13th and 14th of December 2016.
[Original text: Italian] [Translation by ZENIT]
