The Council of Cardinals met for three days: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 11-13 December. All the members of the Council were present except for His Eminence, Cardinal George Pell, and His Eminence, Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya who only arrived on Monday night because his flight had been cancelled due to inclement weather.
The Holy Father was present at all the meetings, except for the one held this morning due to the fact that he was at the General Audience.
Yesterday afternoon's meeting was shorter than expected in order to allow the Cardinals to participate in the Mass presided over by the Pope on the occasion of the liturgical Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe.
The working sessions were held in the mornings from 9:00am to 12:30pm and in the afternoons from 4:30pm until 7:00pm and were partially dedicated once again to a reflection on the Curia as an instrument of evangelization and service for the Pope and for the local Churches.
Also, the Cardinals continued their reflection on questions pertaining to four of the Dicasteries: for Clergy, for the Evangelization of Peoples, for Catholic Education and for Culture.
A significant part of their work was dedicated to reports presented by the Superiors of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life; the Secretary for Communications and the Section of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development that is dedicated to Migrants and Refugees.
His Eminence, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life illustrated the composition of the new Dicastery, which was instituted on 1 September 2016, with special attention paid to the relationship of the Dicastery to youth.
Monsignor Dario Edoardo Viganò, Prefect of the Secretariat for Communications presented the final steps of the changes that are being effected. He outlined the organization of the Dicastery and of various Directors. From these, an organizational chart of the new Dicastery will be developed with the approval of the Secretariat of State. In addition, he spoke about the project which was presented at the beginning concerning reforms to the Vatican media, and demonstrated how the work has been done in regard to: timelines, reduction of personnel (whenever possible) and reduction of costs. He then outlined the new procedures for multimedia productions and the new portal, which will be presented in the coming days in Beta version - not part of the reform but certainly a first visible and concrete expression of it. Finally, he presented a few new logos, demonstrating unity in the midst of differences.
Monsignor reiterated the fact that the Secretariat for Communications is not an office but a Dicastery of the Holy See and some questions relating to economic-administrative matters were entertained. He also confirmed that beginning on 1 January 2018, the Secretariat will be part of the SPC - the Vatican Press - which includes l'Osservatore Romano and the Vatican Photographic Service.
The Cardinals then heard reports from Father M. Czerny, SJ and Father Fabio Baggio, CC, the two under-secretaries from the Section concerned with Migrants nad Refugees within the Dicastery for Integral Human Development. Father Czerny and Father Baggio explained the process of organizing the Section ad tempus under the guidance of the Holy Father. The organization chart inclludes 21 persons on staff including full-time and volunteer positions. All activities undertaken in 2017 are based on the mission of the Dicastery, which consists of assisting the local Churches in the design and implementation of an effective pastoral response adapted to the challenges of the contemporary world concerning migrants, refugees and victims of human trafficking. Among the principal activities are: the collection and codification of information concerning migration issues directly from the affected areas, the implementation of various social media campaigns in favour of a positive narrative regarding migrants and refugees, the production of a document (20 Action Points) in view of Global Compacts concerning migrants and refugees in 2018 and the elaboration of a global strategy involving the principal Catholic actors (Secretary of State, Episcopal Conferences, Catholic NGOs and Religious Congregations), and the direct assistance of some Episcopal Conferences.
His Eminence, Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley, OFM Cap informed the other members of the Council concerning the work that is being undertaken by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, especially in regard to the work of assisting local Churches.
The next meeting of the Council of Cardinals will be held on 26-28 February 2018.
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