Thursday, September 19, 2019

Council of Cardinals at work

The Council of Cardinals met for three days this week: Tuesday, 17; Wednesday, 18 and Thursday, 19 September.

The following Cardinals were in attendance:  Cardinal Pietro Parolin; Cardinal Óscar AndrĂ©s Rodríguez Maradiaga, S.D.B.; Cardinal Reinhard Marx; Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap.; Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello; and Cardinal Oswald Gracias. Also present was the Secretary of the Council, His Excellency, Marcello Semeraro and the Assistant Secretary, His Excellency, Marco Mellino.

The Holy Father participated in the working sessions, including this morning, in addition to other commitments which he also fulfilled.

The working sessions took place every morning from 9:00am to 12:30pm and every afternoon from 4:30pm until 7:00pm, concluding this morning at 12:00noon.

As expected, the work of this Council meeting focused on re-reading and modifying the draft of the new Apostolic Constitution on the basis of the many contributions received from the Episcopal Conferences, the precise observations of the dicasteries of the Roman Curia and the suggestions provided by other interested bodies.

This first re-reading, which has now been completed, was a period of listening and reflection that responds to the guidance of the Holy Father in the sense of communion and synodality.

The Council has established the dates for meetings in the coming year.  The next meeting is planned to take place from 2 to 4 December 2019.

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