Word from the Holy See regarding the meeting this week of Pope Francis and the Council of Cardinals is that substantial change is expected in the Roman Curia. The change at hand is not going to be a mere redaction of Pastor bonus, the 1988 ecclesiastical constitution promulgated by Blessed John Paul II.
The accent is going to be subsidiarity providing room for greater collaboration between and among bishops and national Conferences of Bishops.
Nothing has been firmly decided and it will be the Pope who who will take these days of consultation to prayer and make decisions. It is speculated that significant revisions will happen in the current Secretary of State –perhaps being reformed to be an office of Secretary of the Pope. Also, there could be a Moderator of the Curia, and the revision of various Departments.
The Council meets twice a day with the Pope.
The Council of Cardinals, sometimes called the C8 is made up of the following churchmen:
- Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras (coordinator of the Council), 70;
- Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano, Italy, (Council’s secretary), 65;
- Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, the president of the Vatican city-state governorate, 71;
- Cardinal Francisco Errázuriz Ossa, the retired Archbishop of Santiago, Chile, 80;
- Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay, India, 68;
- Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, Germany, 60;
- Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, USA, 69;
- Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, Dem. Congo, 74;
- Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia, 72.
Missing from the Council at the moment is a bishop/Cardinal from one of the the Eastern Catholic Churches.
Here’s a CNS report.
The Press Office directed by Jesuit Father Frederico Lombardi has this to say about parts of the meeting that are of interest. A previous review is here.