The Council of Cardinals met for three days: from Monday, 18 February to Wednesday, 20 February. Present were Cardinal Pietro Parolin; Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, SDB; Cardinal Richard Marx, Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley, OFM, Cap; Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello and Cardinal Oswald Gracias. Also present were the Secretary of the Council, His Excellency, Marcello Semeraro, and the Associate Secretary, His Excellency, Marco Mellino.
As usual, the Holy Father participated in the working sessions, except for this morning when he was absent because of the General Audience. This afternoon, he will participate in the final session of their gathering.
The working sessions took place every morning from 9:00am to 12:30pm and in the afternoons from 4:30pm to 7:00pm. The principal activity of this meeting of the Council consisted of an update and a re-reading of the working copy of the new Apostolic Constitution which has a provisional title of Praedicate evangelium (Proclaim the gospel). In particular, the stylistic revision and the canonical re-reading of the draft continued. The Cardinals indicated the next steps regarding the procedure for consulting about the draft copy, something which the Holy Father, as a sign of synodality, wishes to continue. It has bee decided that the National Episcopal Conferences will be consulted, as well as the Synods of the Oriental Churches, the Dicasteries of the Roman Rota, the Conferences of Major Superiors and some of the Pontifical Universities.
On Tuesday, 19 February, the Cardinal Consultors met with Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, Moderator of the Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church. Father Lombardi first met with the Consultors during the XXVI meeting of the Cardinal Consultors held from 10 to 12 September 2018. The importance of this event was strongly reiterated as part of the journey of commitment to making the Church an increasingly safe and secure home for children and for adolescents.
In this context, the Council reflected carefully and thoughtfully on the resignation from the clerical state imposed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith upon the Archbishop emeritus of Washington, Theodore McCarrick.
The members of the Council - even though they are not Presidents of Episcopal Conferences or that they hold other offices - and the Bishop Secretary of the Council as well as the Associate Secretary, will participate in the Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church which will be held beginning tomorrow and lasting until 24 February.
The next meeting of the Council of Cardinals is scheduled to take place from 8 to 10 April 2019.
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