Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Francis has begun what is being viewed as the most important week of his Papacy thus far by meeting with the Council of Cardinals (above).

Over the coming days, two commissions of inquiry on Vatican finance will report their recommendations for reform, while further plans will be put in place for the forthcoming Vatican Synod on Marriage and the Family.

The Holy Father will punctuate the ten-day meeting of the council by creating 16 new cardinals—including Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster—at the Vatican this weekend.

Today was the third meeting of the eight-member Council of Cardinals, which was created by Pope Francis on April 13 last year. The council’s remit is to assist in the governance of the Universal Church and to draw up a plan for the revision of the Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia. Today’s gathering began with the Holy Father meeting his team at the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

Fr Federico Lombardi, the Holy See’s director of communications, offered insight into this morning’s meeting.

“As usual, the cardinals initiated their work with a Holy Mass concelebrated this morning at 7am in the Sanctae Marthae chapel, after which they began their meetings in a nearby room,” Fr Lombardi said. “Archbishop Pietro Parolin, secretary of State and future cardinal, was and will continue to be present.

“The morning was dedicated to hearing the representatives of the Commission for Reference on the the Organisation of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See (COSEA). Three members of the commission were present, rather than the entire commission: the president Josef FX Zahra, the secretary Mgr Lucio Vallejo Balda and Joachim Messemer, who is also the international revisor for the Prefecture of Economic Affairs of the Holy See. The work carried out during the eight months since the creation of this body was presented, but no decision was made.”

Tomorrow, the Commission for Reference on the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) will be heard.

An extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals, dedicated to the family will begin on Thursday at the Vatican’s New Synod Hall, two days before the creation of the 16 new cardinals. Sunday will see the Holy Father celebrate Mass with the new cardinals at the Vatican prior to a two-day meeting of the Secretariat of the Synod and the Council of Fifteen.

The Council of Fifteen, initiated by Blessed John Paul II, is the group of cardinals responsible for the financial statement of the Holy See and the Governorate of Vatican City State.

The Vatican Synod on Marriage and the Family will take place from October 5-19.

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