VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service
Vatican City, 3 December 2013 (VIS) – The Council of Cardinals instituted by Pope Francis to assist him in the governance of the universal Church and to draw up a plan for the revision of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor bonus on the Roman Curia, as announced by the Holy Father’s chirograph dated 28 September, began its second round of meetings this morning, to continue until 5 December. The first round took place from 3 to 5 October.
The Council is composed of eight cardinals from the five continents: Cardinals Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State, Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, archbishop emeritus of Santiago de Chile, Chile; Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, India; Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich, Germany; Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Sean Patrick O’Malley, archbishop of Boston, U.S.A.; George Pell, archbishop of Sydney, Australia, and Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in the function of co-ordinator. The secretary is Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano, Italy.
In a briefing held today, the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., communicated that the cardinals will meet in the Santa Marta guesthouse at from 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., and will hold the afternoon sessions from 4 to 7 p.m. The morning began with the holy Mass concelebrated with Pope Francis in the chapel.
“This time, the cardinals have commenced work directly in the Santa Marta guesthouse, rather than meeting beforehand on the Third Loggia, as they did in October”, said Fr. Lombardi. “The Pope was present at the meeting and will probably also attend this afternoon. However, tomorrow he will not attend the morning session as he will hold the general audience in St. Peter’s Square. During the intervening months between one session and another, the cardinals have continued their work, both personally and in contact with each other; they have also gathered opinions and suggestions on the situation of the Church based on the events in which they have participated; for example, Cardinal Gracias has attended numerous meetings in Asia, while Cardinal Marx has held his own in Europe”.
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