Pope explains choices of new cardinals, shifts some duties within Roman Curia
October 29, 2012
In brief remarks delivered to the final session of the Synod of Bishops on October 27, Pope Benedict XVI explained his surprise decision to appoint 6 new members to the College of Cardinals. The Pope also announced minor changes in the responsibilities of three offices of the Roman Curia.
Regarding the 6 new cardinals, whose appointment he had announced earlier in the week, the Pope said that the “little consistory” to be held in November would “complete the consistory of February,” when he had elevated 22 new cardinals. The 6 new cardinals all come from outside Europe. Their appointment, the Pope said, “is a gesture toward the universality of the Church, showing that the Church is the Church of all peoples.” The new appointments had been widely interpreted as a move to give a more international flavor to the College of Cardinals, after the previous consistory had strengthened the Italian and European dominance of the College.
Pope Benedict told the Synod fathers that he was releasing a new motu proprio shifting the duties of Vatican offices; “I have decided to transfer jurisdiction for seminaries from the Congregation for Catholic Education to the Congregation for the Clergy, and jurisdiction for catechesis from the Congregation for the Clergy to the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization.”
The Pope concluded his address at the final Saturday session of the Synod by saying that he had “found it truly edifying consoling and encouraging to see here the mirror of the universal Church, with her suffering, threats, dangers, and joys.”
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Further information:
- The Church Is Not Just of One Continent, But Universal (VIS)
- Pope Benedict names 6 new cardinals in surprise announcement (CWN, 10/24)
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