They say the hot-off-the-press document will be released sometime today, New Zealand time.

The document

Entitled "The Bishop of Rome - Primacy and Synodality in Ecumenical Discussions and Responses to the Encyclical Ut unum sint", the new document from the Pope's ecumenical office continues from a Pope John Paul II 1995 encyclical.

The Vatican says the magisterial text was groundbreaking for Christian unity at the time.

The Vatican press office explained that the document held out the prospect of a new self-image and a different way of exercising the papacy, particularly with regard to the churches of the East.

When the John Paul document was being explored, he had invited other Christian churches to seek ways in which the papal office could be understood as a "service of mercy" to all churches in a "fraternal, patient dialogue" with Rome.

The Vatican's ecumenical department subsequently set up its own dialogue forums with several churches. They deliberated for decades and the results of those deliberations are now available.

Pope Francis supported the project from the outset when he defined himself first and foremost as the Bishop of Rome.

He also decreed the revival of the historic title"Patriarch of the West" which had been cancelled by his predecessor Benedict XVI.

Renewed form of the papal office?

The Vatican press office also points to the Pope's aim to give the Catholic world Church a "synodal" constitution.

His interpretation of synodality means the Pope alone would no longer makes decisions from above.

Bishops, theologians and lay people would be involved in consultations on fundamental Church issues.

This would make the Catholic Church more similar in its structure and functioning to the churches of the East. These have always had a synodal organisation, along with communities that emerged from the Reformation.

The Vatican describes the new document on the papacy as a "study document" which the Pope has approved.

Its purpose is to bring together the responses to "Ut unum sint" and the ecumenical dialogue on primacy and synodality.

It will make a proposal for a renewed form of papal office that can also be recognised by the other churches.

Some in the Vatican believe the proposal could see the Pope have regular and equal-footing meetings with other patriarchs and church leaders.

Source

• katholisch.de

Pope Francis on Thursday tapped a long-time logistics coordinator to serve as the Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, ending the interim appointment of Alessandro Gisotti, effective Monday, July 22.

Gisotti will now be vice-Editorial Director under Andrea Tornielli at the Dicastery for Communication, along with another old hand at the former Vatican Radio, Sergio Centofanti.

The replacement of Gisotti did not come as a surprise.

From the day the 45-year-old former Vatican Radio journalist took the reins after former Director Greg Burke had suddenly dropped on the last day of last year, his appointment had been couched as ad interim.

They said it and he meant it. Anyone who knows Gisotti has no trouble believing him when he says both that it was a tremendous honour to be tapped for the job, and that he would be happy to put it down. Read more

Greg Burke, an American, succeeds Italian Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, who is retiring after 10 years in the position.

Mr Burke is a numerary member of Opus Dei.

He served as special communications adviser in the Vatican's Secretariat of State, starting in 2012.

In December, 2015, Pope Francis appointed him the vice director of the press office.

A graduate of Columbia University's school of journalism, Mr Burke spent 24 of the past 28 years as a Rome-based journalist.

This was with the National Catholic Register, Time magazine and the Fox News network.

Spanish journalist Paloma Garcia Ovejero fills in Mr Burke's spot as vice director at the Vatican press office.

She is the first female to hold that position.

Mr Burke that in choosing an American and a Spanish journalist, the Pope has made "an important sign of internationalisation" in order to reach out to Catholics across the globe.

Ms Garcia Ovejero, who studied journalism in Spain and earned a masters degree in Management Strategies and Communications at New York University, worked as the Italy and Vatican correspondent for Spanish radio broadcaster Cadena COPE.

"For me it's an honour, it's a service and it's another way of serving the Church," she said.

"But it is the same Church and, in some way, the same type of work: to proclaim the good news and to transmit faithfully and with dignity the Pope's message," Ms Garcia Ovejero said.

She downplayed her role as the first female vice director of the press office.

She said saying that the first women who served the Church "were the ones who found the empty tomb and proclaimed the Resurrection to the apostles".

"I am in no way the first woman. The first woman above all in the Church, in the Vatican and in the press office is the Virgin Mary," she said.

Sources

• Catholic News Service
• Image: America