The reform of the Roman Curia, the function of the Vatican Secretariat of State and the role of the Synod of Bishops have occupied Pope Francis and his advisory council of cardinals during their first meeting.
The three-day meeting opened with a talk by the Pope on the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council. This was to establish a “working climate not limited to organisational questions but broadly spiritual and ecclesiological”, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said.
Among the topics of the pope’s reflection were the mission of the Church, the relationship between the universal Church and local churches, collegiality, the Church and poverty, and the role of the laity.
Each of the eight cardinals then offered his own reflections, including suggestions he had received from others, and offered his views on what should be the major areas of the council’s work.
Father Lombardi said that the media should not expect any definitive statements from the council. The cardinals are an advisory group, he reminded the press, and any decisions will be made by the Pope.
Moreover, he said the council is expected to continue its discussions beyond this week’s meetings. Their planning for reform would be a “long-term task”.
However, Father Lombardi said that some news about the next meeting of the Synod of Bishops could emerge “within a few days,” since preparations for that meeting must be made.
He noted that the Pope has suggested that the next synod will have an “anthropological” theme relating to the pastoral care of families, which was also a topic of discussion at the council meeting.
Pope Francis has also suggested that he wants to make the synod into a permanent advisory body.
The eight members of the council are: Cardinals Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, retired archbishop of Santiago, Chile; Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, India; Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, Germany; Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, Congo; Sean P. O’Malley of Boston; George Pell of Sydney; Giuseppe Bertello, president of the commission governing Vatican City State; and Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
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Image: The Guardian