Briefing about the work of the Council of Cardinals

At 1:00pm today (local time), the Director of the Holy See Press Centre, Greg Burke held a briefing concerning the 21st meeting of the Cardinal Consultors with the Holy Father, Pope Francis.

The Council of Cardinals met for three days: Monday, September 11; Tuesday, September 12 and Wednesday, September 13.  All the members of the Council were present except for His Eminence, Cardinal George Pell and His Eminence, Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya.  The Holy Father joined the group on Tuesday morning, after having completed his Apostolic Voyage in Colombia, and was absent this morning during the General Audience.

The working sessions were held in the mornings from 9:00am until 12:30pm and in the afternoons from 4:30pm until 7:00pm and were dedicated to the study of the status of proposals for certain reforms to the Curia which have been entrusted to the Holy Father by the members of the Council.

There was also a reflection on the texts prepared by the Pope concerning the reforms to the Curia, led by Cardinal Óscar Rodriguez Maradiaga.  The texts are those especially of the traditional Christmas greeting with the Roman Curia, but also those from the two Consistories - in February and in October 2015 - and the one from the fiftieth anniversary of the Synod of Bishops.  Somew themes of the discussion were: the Curia as an instrument of evangelization and of service for the Pope and for the local Churches; decentralization; the role of the Apostolic Nunciatures; the selection and competence of personnel, less clerical and more international, with increased numbers of young people and of women.

Among other things, the Cardinals reflected on the recent Motu Proprio Magnum Principium to outline the repercussions on the duties of the Congregation of Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments.  His Excellency, Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization also made a presentation concerning the work of the dicastery.  This afternoon, His Eminence, Fernando Cardinal Filoni, Prefect of Propaganda Fide will make a presentation to the Council.

The Cardinals conducted a re-reading of the Statutes of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, which was created on 1 September 2016.

His Eminence, Sean Patrick Cardinal O'Malley spoke with the members of the Council about the work of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

The next meetings of the Council of Cardinals will take place on 11, 12 and 13 December 2017.