Council of Cardinals

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The Cardinal Council (also K9 Council ) is a papal advisory body for reforming the governance of the Roman Catholic Church , which was set up by Pope Francis .

task

In the so-called “pre-conclave” of the 2013 papal election , many cardinals expressed criticism of the way the curia worked and called for the local churches to be strengthened . Soon after his election, the newly elected Pope Francis took up these concerns and on April 13, 2013 initially appointed eight cardinals to advise him on reforming the Curia; later a ninth was added.

With a chirograph (a papal letter) dated September 28, 2013, the body was raised to a permanent institution with the task of “helping the Holy Father in the government of the universal Church” “and with him a revision project for the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus on the Roman Curia ”. In the same letter, the body was also given a name: Consiglio di Cardinali .

The spokesman for the Holy See, Federico Lombardi , pointed out several times that the Council of Cardinals would not develop its own documents, but only had an advisory role and that the Pope reserved all decisions.

Members

Members of the Council of Cardinals are the cardinals:

Marcello Semeraro , the Bishop of Albano, is the secretary of the Council of Cardinals . Marco Mellino has been Assistant Secretary since October 27, 2018 .

The Pope reserved the right to change the number of members. The cardinals "enjoy the special esteem of the Pope"; With the exception of Bertello and Parolin, all of them are not members of the curia, but diocesan bishops from all parts of the world, and are considered to be well networked due to their diverse functions.

In mid-December 2018, Pope Francis co-signed

three members from the body. He also mentioned her advanced age. Subsequent nominations are not planned. Pell had recently been convicted of sexual abuse of juveniles (acquittal in April 2020); Ossa is being investigated because he is said to have covered him up.

job

Even before the first meeting of the Council of Cardinals, Pope Francis made it clear that he saw an urgent need for organizational and substantive reform in the world church in view of the frequent “self-centeredness” of the Curia.

In the first session from October 1st to 3rd, 2013, questions of the leadership of the universal Church were discussed on the basis of around 80 reform proposals from bishops and members of the Curia. A new constitution of the curia should replace the previous Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus and better coordination of the curial authorities should be achieved. The Council of Cardinals also put "the nature of the 'service' of the Curia in the foreground to the universal Church and the local Churches" and addressed questions about the status of the laity in the Church.

A second session took place from December 3rd to 5th, 2013. The review of the Curia continued, this time focusing on the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Order of the Sacraments . In a press release it was stressed that the revision of the Constitution Pastor Bonus may be so profound that it could be viewed as a new constitution for the Curia. The Council of Cardinals also proposed setting up a commission for the protection of minors. The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which was subsequently established by Francis, is headed by Cardinal O'Malley.

A third session took place in mid-February 2014. The cardinals and Pope Francis discussed, among other things, the so-called Vatican Bank IOR. The Vatican's Economic Secretariat was then founded, which has been headed by Cardinal Pell since then.

In February 2015, the K9 Council met again and discussed the merger of a number of dicasteries . A new dicastery for “Laity, Family and Life” is to be created, which will unite the Pontifical Council for the Laity and the Pontifical Council for the Family , as well as a dicastery for “Caritas, Justitia et Pax”, which will come from the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum” and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace . The State Secretariat is to take on a stronger coordinating function within the Curia. Following the three-day deliberations, the previous work of the Council was presented to the entire College of Cardinals for the first time .

In the consistory more than 60 proposals from the cardinals concerning the reform of the Curia were introduced. These applications were processed in more detail by the K9 Council in April 2015 and noted. In addition, the council dealt with the reorganization of the media belonging to the Vatican.

The establishment of a judicial commission in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to carry out cases of abuse of office by bishops in connection with the abuse of minors was approved by the Council of Cardinals in June 2015 and passed on to the Pope. The proposal was prepared by the Commission for the Protection of Minors. In September 2015, the Council of Cardinals dealt with the requirements and qualities that a bishop needs today and how the existence of these qualities can be verified before an appointment. In December 2015 and April 2016, discussions continued on two new dicasteries, the new constitution of the Curia and the economic reform of the Vatican. At its meetings between 2016 and 2020, the Council of Cardinals mainly dealt with drawing up and revising the draft of the new constitution of the Curia. In June 2018 he passed the draft of a new curia order, which has the provisional title Praedicate Evangelium and is intended to replace Pastor Bonus . After it had been submitted to the Pope, the draft was canonically examined and opinions were obtained from bishops' conferences and dicasteries. In addition, working meetings with senior members of the Curia formed part of the meetings of the K9 Council to discuss progress on the restructuring already under way.

At its meeting in September 2018, the Council of Cardinals dealt with allegations of the Curia's cover-up of sexual abuse in the Church. As a result of these discussions, Pope Francis announced a meeting of bishops for the protection of minors, which took place in February 2019 and led to changes in regulations in both the Vatican and the universal Church.

Other usage of the term

The term council of cardinals is also used to refer to other bodies. There is the Council of Cardinals for examining the organizational and economic affairs of the Holy See and the State of the Vatican City ( Cardinal Council for Economic Affairs for short ). The Cardinal Council described here is also incorrectly referred to by various media as the "Cardinal Commission". However, in the last few decades there have been various cardinal commissions (dealing with the Dutch Catechism , the Pius Brotherhood or the codification of canon law ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vatican: K9 Council began eighth session on curia reform. In: kathpress.co.at. February 9, 2015, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Vatican Radio: Group of Cardinals advises Pope on reform of the Curia , from April 13, 2013.
  3. ↑ a b Vatican Radio: Pope founds Council of Cardinals as a permanent institution , from September 30, 2013.
  4. ^ A b Vatican Radio: Council of Cardinals: Innovations in Synods , from October 2, 2013.
  5. ↑ Conclusa la riunione del Consiglio dei cardinali. Vatican News, December 12, 2018, accessed December 23, 2018 (Italian).
  6. ↑ The number of advisors is getting smaller. Domradio , December 12, 2018, accessed on December 13, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Bayerischer Rundfunk: Reforms in the Vatican. The Pope is serious ( memento of October 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), October 1, 2013.
  8. ^ Vatican Radio: Proposals for Curia Reform: New Tasks, New Basis , October 3, 2013.
  9. ↑ THE ROMAN CURIA: KEY THEME OF THE SECOND ROUND OF THE COUNCIL OF CARDINALS. Vatican Information Service, December 3, 2013, accessed December 31, 2013 .
  10. ↑ THE POPE TO CREATE A COMMISSION FOR THE PROTECTION OF MINORS, UponRequest BY THE COUNCIL OF CARDINALS. Vatican Information Service, December 5, 2013, accessed December 31, 2013 .
  11. ^ Pr: Child Protection Commission: Above all lay people, many women. In: Vatican Radio . December 17, 2014, accessed January 7, 2015 .
  12. ^ Papal advisors spoke about reforms in the Vatican Bank , kath.net February 19, 2014.
  13. ↑ Jürgen Erbacher: Week of Reform. In: zdf.de. February 11, 2015, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  14. ^ Ninth meeting of the Council of Cardinals. In: news.va. April 15, 2015, accessed May 14, 2015 .
  15. ^ The tenth meeting of the Council of Cardinals comes to an end. In: news.va. June 10, 2015, archived from the original on May 28, 2016 ; accessed on May 28, 2016 (English).
  16. ^ Council of Cardinals conclude twelfth meeting. In: radiovaticana.va. December 12, 2015, accessed May 28, 2016 .
  17. ↑ adopted draft new Curia order. In: www.domradio.de. June 13, 2018, accessed August 7, 2018 .
  18. ^ Briefing of the Vice Director of the Holy See Press Office, Paloma García Ovejero, on the 26th meeting of the Council of Cardinals with the Holy Father Francis. Retrieved May 21, 2020 .
  19. ^ Holy See Press Office Communiqué on the Meeting of the Council of Cardinals. Retrieved May 21, 2020 .
  20. ^ Press briefing for XVIII Meeting of Cardinal Advisors. Retrieved May 21, 2020 .
  21. ^ Hannah Brockhaus: Three cardinals dropped from C9 as reform process nears end. Retrieved May 21, 2020 (English).
  22. ^ Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus. I. General norms. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, accessed October 9, 2013 (Articles 24-25).