Council of Cardinals concludes 3-day meeting, announces major initiatives

June 10, 2015

The Council of Cardinals concluded a three-day meeting at the Vatican on June 10, announcing the approval of major initiatives to hold bishops accountable for their handling of sex-abuse complaints and the reform the Vatican’s media operations.

[See today’s separate CWN headlines stories for details on those initiatives.]

The Council—the 9-member body created by Pope Francis to advise him on reform of the Roman Curia—also heard a report from Cardinal George Pell, the prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy. The Australian prelate updated the group on the creation of three new working groups: to analyze Vatican investments, to manage human resources, and to study the efficiency and compatibility of Vatican computer systems.

The Council also heard a report by Father Michael Czerny, of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, on plans for the introduction of the papal encyclical on the environment, which will be released next week. Father Czerny said that the Pontifical Council will send email messages to all the world’s bishops, offering suggestions on how they might respond to questions about the document.

The Council of Cardinals is working to draft a new apostolic constitution that will outline the new roles of the offices of the Roman Curia. During this week’s meeting, most of the first day was devoted to work on the preamble of that document, the Vatican press office disclosed.

Pope Francis participated in all of the sessions of the three-day meeting, except on Wednesday morning when he held his regular weekly public audience. Cardinal Laurent Mosengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, a member of the Council, was unable to attend this week’s meeting. The Council of Cardinals will hold its next meeting in September. The Vatican has indicated that the group expects to continue working on its plans for reform of the Roman Curia at least into 2016.

 

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Further information:

• The tenth meeting of the Council of Cardinals comes to an end (VIS)
• Council of Cardinals holding 10th meeting this week (CWN, 6/8)