Pope establishes international advisory panel of Cardinals

View from St Peter's - ICN

On Monday, the Vatican announced the establishment of a new Council of Cardinals, represent the Church on the different continents, from Africa and Asia, Europe and Australia, North, Central and South America, with Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Governing body of Vatican City State. Together with the Italian bishop of Albano serving as secretary and Pope Francis himself, this small group will be working from today (Tuesday) to Thursday, behind the closed doors of the library inside the Apostolic Palace where most previous popes have lived. All of the cardinals are staying at the nearby Santa Marta guesthouse where Pope Francis has chosen to live and all of them will be travelling with the Holy Father on his pilgrimage to Assisi on Friday at the end of their meeting.

Fr Federico Lombardi, head of the Holy See press office, described the Council as: “An encouraging innovation to enrich the governance of the Church with a new method of consultation”.

In the formal letter, Pope Francis makes clear he reserves the right to change the number of advisers in his new Council and to seek their advice individually, or as a group, whenever necessary.

Fr Lombardi noted that, ahead of this week’s meeting, all the cardinals have already been hard at working, seeking input from bishops conferences in their particular parts of the globe and they’ve already had a couple of informal get-togethers to share ideas and suggestions ahead of the opening session this morning. Fr Lombardi also read out the part of the papal letter which spells out the main tasks facing the newly instituted Council:

“ …a Council of Cardinals with the task of assisting me in the governance of the Universal church and drawing up a project for the revision of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus on the Roman Curia”

The eight council members are: George Pell, archbishop of Sydney; Sean O'Malley, archbishop of Boston; Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, archbishop of Kinshasa; Giuseppe Bertollo, governor of the Vatican City state; Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa, archbishop emeritus of Santiago; Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai; and Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and Freising.

Both Pope Paul VI and Blessed John Paul II also named international panels of cardinals to advise them on curial reform, but in neither case did they grant the body the permanent status of a council.

Source: VIS/ICN