Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Briefing about this week's meeting of the Council of Cardinals

In the latter part of this morning, the Director of the Holy See Press Centre, Father Federico Lombardi, SJ held a briefing concerning the meeting of the nine Cardinal Counsellors with the Holy Father, Pope Francis.

The Council of Cardinals met with the Holy Father for three days: Monday, April 11; Tuesday, April 12 and Wednesday, April 13.  All the members of the Council were present except for Cardinal Gracias, who was absent for health reasons.  The Holy Father participated in all the meetings except for this morning, since he was at the General Audience.

A major part of the consultation was dedicated to further considerations about the Dicasteries of the Curia, something that has been the object of reflection in previous meetings, in preparation for the new Apostolic Constitution.  For example, the Congregations for Divine Worship, for Consecrated Life, for the Causes of Saints, for the Doctrine of the Faith and so on.

The texts of the proposals addressed to the Holy Father for the two new Dicasteries which I have already spoken of many times, that is to say Laity, Family and Life and Justice, Peace and Migration (which also includes Charity and Pastoral Health Care) which have been completed, were re-read and then submitted to the Holy Father who will make the final decisions.

Other issues were also addressed.

In particular, the Cardinals discussed the criteria for the gathering of information pertaining to the appointment of new Bishops, in the light of their pastoral identity and mission.

There was also a reflection on the significance and the role of the Nuncios.

Updates were also provided by the Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy concerning various matters within its competence and by Cardinal O'Malley concerning the work of the Commission for the Protection of Minors.

On the final day, the Council worked at collecting, sorting and integrating various contributions which have emerged from their meetings, in order to begin to structure the integrated proposal which will be offered to the Pope by the Cardinal Consultors in preparation for the new Constitution.

The next meetings of the Council are planned for June 6-8, September 12-14 and December 12-14 of this year.

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