Pope sets scene for Vatican reform

Pope Francis hosted a key meeting with the heads of all Vatican departments on Tuesday in anticipation of expected Vatican reforms.

 

A committee of senior cardinals – who the Pope has picked to advise him on reform of the Church’s central governance – is due to meet in Rome early next month. The so-called ‘Group of 8’ cardinals have already been exchanging views with the Pope on what form any proposed reform might take.

 

According to a Vatican communique issued after this week’s meeting, the Pope has already met personally with all the heads of the Vatican departments in recent months and has spoken at length with each of them.

 

Considerations 

The communique said “A meeting in order to listen to the considerations and advice offered by the highest-ranking figures in the Roman Curia and the Pope’s main collaborators in Rome fits naturally within the context of the implementation of suggestions presented by the cardinals to the congregations in preparation for the Conclave and the Holy Father’s reflections on the government of the Church.

 

“Another key event on this theme will be the forthcoming meeting of the Group of Eight cardinals in early October,” the Vatican said.

 

Bureaucracy 

Just a month after his election, Francis named the committee of eight cardinals to assist him in reforming the Vatican bureaucracy.

 

The group consists of: Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State; Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, Archbishop emeritus of Santiago de Chile, Chile; Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, India; Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany; Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, Archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley O.F.M., Archbishop of Boston, USA; Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, Australia and Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, S.D.B., Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in the role of coordinator