At a theological forum of the Synod on Synodality in Rome on Wednesday evening, she explained that canon law already stipulates that the composition of advisory bodies should reflect the composition of the people of God.

So far, however, this has not applied to the gender composition, although this is an essential dimension of human existence. In future synods, this must change so that the proportion of women corresponds to the proportion of the people of God, said the canon lawyer who teaches in Vicenza.

Horak also presented her thoughts at the most recent meeting of the Council of Cardinals "K9" in June in the presence of Pope Francis. The Council is the Pope's most important official advisory body.

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Pope Francis consistently says "no" when asked if women can be deacons or join the Catholic clergy.

But Francis supports discussion about the women's diaconate. This October's synod working document affirms "theological reflection should continue".

Since last December the Pope and his Council of Cardinal Advisors - the "C9" - have had four meetings where women's input has been sought.

Talks from the December council meeting were published in February. Speeches three women made at that meeting and two cardinals' responses to them are included in a book published on July 11.

The Church "has sometimes fallen into the trap of considering loyalty to ideas to be more important than attention to reality" the Pope's foreword to the book says.

The women's diaconate

At the February meeting, Salesian Sister Linda Pocher (pictured) told the C9 that justifications for reserving ordained ministry to men "are weak, and it is important to recognise and be aware of it".

Biblically, the 12 apostles' calling cannot be equated with the institution of priestly or episcopal orders as they are understood today.

Theological justifications for excluding women from holy orders that assumed women were inherently incapable of holding positions in the public sphere don't hold true today, she said.

Furthermore historical papal decisions don't justify maintaining the practice.

Many popes have altered positions held by their predecessors.

Some things won't change

Cardinal Seán O'Malley responded to Pocher's suggestions saying Church tradition reserves priestly ordination for men.

But Church leadership should find ways to open more ministries to women since male-only ordained ministry "will not change".

It's not a matter of men being superior to women.

While women must be able to fully contribute to the Church, "we cannot allow ourselves to make mistakes acting hastily or without a full consideration of the possible consequences of these changes".

Furthermore, women everywhere need to occupy more leadership positions - in the Vatican, in archdioceses, dioceses and parishes he said.

Anglican view

Jo Bailey Wells, deputy secretary-general of the Anglican Communion, spoke to the C9 about the 1978 Lambeth Conference.

It gave each church the authority to decide whether to ordain women.

Part of the theological rationale was the idea that God created all humanity with the capacity to lead and govern.

Women's subordination to men followed humanity's fall from God's grace, she said.

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich replied, saying the Anglican ordained ministry is "not entirely adaptable to Catholic ordained ministry.

"In the Catholic Church we have a unity of doctrine and a unity of the episcopal college, in communion with the bishop of Rome, which represents the universal Church" he said.

There are divisions between Anglican parishes supporting women's ordination and those that don't - particularly in recognising women bishops' authority, he notes.

He is concerned that ordaining women could hinder the Church's warming relations with the Orthodox churches.

He wonders if the Church's synodal path that recognises its members' baptismal dignity in which "ordained ministry becomes true service" could "reduce the frustration of many women".

Source

• United States Catholic Bishops Conference

Rev Jo Bailey Wells, deputy secretary general of the Anglican Communion, was one of the first generation of women to be ordained a vicar in the Church of England in 1995. Married to an Anglican clergyman with two children, she has also served as chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Anglican bishop, who in the past has praised "gender history" for highlighting how "institutions are gendered and how institutions gender individuals," also addressed an interreligious meeting attended by Pope Francis in Kazakhstan in October 2022 when she reportedly said, "gender equality is part of God's plans."

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He selected Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa to be a member of the Council of Cardinals.

Bishop Marcello Semararo of Albano was appointed the new prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

Cardinal Besungu takes the place of his predecessor in the DRC capital, Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo, on what is now the C-7. The pope retained six other of the members of what was originally the C-9.

Bishop Semararo takes the place of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the Vatican's former deputy-Secretary of State for internal affairs ("Sostituto") whom the pope recently sacked from heading the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, apparently for embezzlement and nepotism.

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Doctrine alone is no longer enough to reach an increasingly post-Christian world, says Bishop Marcello Semeraro, Secretary of the Council of Cardinals.

He points out that a "fundamental perspective" of Pope Francis's reform efforts come from his emphasis on a missionary Church in his 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.

"The pope speaks of missionary conversion, transformation of the Church," Semeraro says.

"We are no longer in the regime of Christendom. What counts above all is the proclamation of faith."

Perceptions are rapidly changing, and much of modern society is "no longer within Christianity," he says.

In the current cultural climate, Semeraro says "it is not enough to focus on the order of doctrine, but above all the proclamation … a proclamation which brings joy, otherwise it wouldn't be the Gospel."

When the Council of Cardinal Advisors began the consultation process for Curia reform back in 2013, Semeraro says almost all the Vatican's dicasteries had been heard in a real "general review of public policies" of the Vatican and the Church's government.

The new draft constitution has now been sent to all of them and, in an unprecedented move, to episcopal conferences, universities and canon lawyers.

"The Curia is a service structure and it was necessary to reform it so that it better corresponds to the needs of the world", Semeraro explains.

"It was created by Pope Sixtus V at a time when the law of the Church and the law of the State corresponded. However, we cannot pretend that the world has not changed."

Some points of the new apostolic constitution, provisionally known as Predicate Evangelium (Preach the Gospel), have been closely examined.

For example, in the section about the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, there is a reference to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

The text comes from the United Nations (UN) and not of the Church.

This has raised the concerns of those who want to continue to see the Church as a "perfect society" separated from a world from which it has nothing to learn. They are contesting the UN reference.

Others wonder about the place of women in the future Curia.

Semeraro says in future, women will not only be able to be members of the various dicasteries but also to take up the highest positions, including being prefect of the dicastery.

"The sacrament of holy orders will no longer be required for positions of responsibility, only baptism," the secretary of the Council of Cardinals says.

The strong place given to episcopal conferences in the future constitution has caused grumbling of apostolic nuncios, who recently gathered in the Vatican.

They are concerned their power over local episcopates may be diminished.

Pope Francis's recent closed-door discussion with the nuncios gave him an opportunity to re-explain how he sees their role.

The Council of Cardinals' next task will be to study the many reactions to its draft constitution.

Some bishops' conferences have yet to meet to discuss the draft, while others have not even received it.

Semeraro says the document may have been blocked by the antivirus software in the mailboxes of some bishops' conference presidents.

"Perhaps [the Council of Cardinals] will even be able to hand over the final draft constitution to the pope in September. It will then be up to him to decide whether or not to publish it," he says.

Source

• La Croix
• Crux Now

Members of the Council (known as the C9 because there are nine cardinals making up the papal advisory group) advise the pope on Church governance and reform.

Its work places a special emphasis on the reform of Pastor Bonus, the apostolic constitution which governs the Roman Curia.

Papal spokesman Greg Burke says Francis sent letters to Cardinals George Pell, Francisco Javier Errazuriz and Laurent Monsengwo at the end of October to thank them for their service to the Council over the past five years.

The letters followed a request the Council made in October for its work, structure and composition to be reviewed, "especially in light of the advanced age of some members."

The Vatican says "considering the phase of the Council's work, the appointment of new members is not expected at the moment."

Francis appointed the C-9 in 2013 to help him reform the Vatican and reorganise its bureaucracy.

That work is coming to an end, with the finalising of a new document outlining the work and mission of the various congregations that make up the universal government of the church and its 1.2 billion members.

Source

• Stuff
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Crux Now

Commonly referred to as the "C9," the group was established by Pope Francis after his election as Bishop of Rome in 2013 to advise him in matters of Church governance and reform. Read more

Adding, the work is "nearly complete at the level of proposals made to the Pope.

"I think that within a few months this revision will be more or less complete.

"Then the Pope will have at his disposition the proposals that regard all the Dicasteries and I would expect him to decide how and when to actuate them."

The Council - nicknamed the C9 - have been working on the Curia reform to ensure it meets Pope Francis's aim: that reform must "con-form to the Good News which must be proclaimed joyously and courageously to all, especially to the poor, the least and the outcast".

Francis has said he also expects it to be "guided by ecclesiology and directed in bonum et in servitium, as is the service of the Bishop of Rome.

"It will only work if the men and women who work in the Curia are renewed and not simply replaced," Francis told the C9 when they began the work.

"Permanent formation is not enough; what we need also and above all is permanent conversion and purification. Without a change of mentality, efforts at practical improvement will be in vain."

Semeraro says introducing the changes will be a considered process.

To date Francis has shown a preference for gradual reform, with a kind of "breaking-in" period, he says. This approach allows for corrections as the reform is rolled out from theory to practical reality.

Source

• Vatican Radio
• The Pilot
• Vatican Radio
• Image: Communio

This would mean transferring some offices from the Vatican to local bishops or episcopal conferences "in a spirit of healthy decentralization."

The Council said they also discussed circumstances in which decisions that are currently made by Vatican congregations could be made by diocesan bishops or episcopal conferences.

Exactly which Vatican offices might be involved in such a change has not yet been announced.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke referred to the Vatican offices that might be involved as dicasteries when he was briefing reporters after the latest Council meeting.

He did not make any distinction between those dicasteries classified as "congregations" and those that are "pontifical councils."

Noting that no immediate changes are likely, Burke cited the possibility of transferring authority over deacons as an example; he said this was just one of several types of decentralization the Council of Cardinals considered in its meeting.

"In many dicasteries there are things like this that [at present] depend on Rome [to decide them] but do not have to necessarily," he said.

The next meeting of the Council of Cardinals is scheduled for September.

Source

• National Catholic Reporter
• Catholic Culture
• Crux
• Image: abc.es

The two new Vatican offices proposed are "Laity, Family and Life" and "Justice, Peace and Migration".

Pope Francis will make the final decision on these proposals.

The cardinals are still discussing planned reforms for the Vatican's Secretariat of State and the Congregation for Divine Worship.

At their meeting this month, the cardinals also discussed "synodality" and the Pope's call last year for the Church to move towards "healthy decentralisation".

Continue reading

In a press release on Saturday, the Vatican announced this and gave an update on the council's meeting last week.

In their next meeting in February, the so-called C9 council, which advises the Pope on Church governance, will reflect on an October speech by Francis that called for a "health decentralisation" of the Church.

On October 17, during the synod of bishops discussing the family, Pope Francis called for a more "synodal" Church that listens to people on every level.

Referring to Evangelii Gaudium, the Pope said then he could not substitute the ability of bishops around the world to discern the problems facing Catholics in their regions.

The Pope added that he was aware "of the need to proceed with a healthy ‘decentralisation'".

Saturday's Vatican statement said: "In its reflections, the [C9] council has noted the importance of the Holy Father's October 17 discourse, in occasion of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops,"

"The [C9] council has recalled the need to deepen the significance of that discourse and its importance also for the work of the reform of the Curia, so much so as to decide to dedicate a specific session to it during their upcoming meeting in February, 2016," the statement continued.

The C9 council's membership includes Cardinal George Pell from Australia.

At their meeting at the Vatican last week, the prelates continued to discuss a new "Laity, Family and Life" office.

They also spoke about a proposal to create another new Vatican office for "Justice, Peace and Migration."

The latter office would likely combine the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace with other offices to create one larger, centralised Vatican dicastery.

The C9 council also received an update from Cardinal Sean O'Malley on the work of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Vatican Radio
• Image: Vatican Radio

He made the announcement on Thursday evening's session of the family synod in Rome.

The new dicastery was proposed by the Council of Cardinals, the Pope's closest cardinal-advisers.

It is unclear if the new department will be called a council or a congregation. It is also not known who will lead it.

The statutes of the new body are expected to be released in December.

Continue reading

The Pope has asked his so-called C9 international council of cardinals to do this.

He wants them to look particularly at the qualities needed in a bishop today.

The council met with the Pope from September 14-16.

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, said one of the primary roles of the C9 council is to advise the Pope on Church governance.

With more than 150 new bishops being named each year in the Latin-rite church, identifying suitable candidates is a normal part of the governance of the universal Church, the spokesman said.

"There is a long process" for naming bishops, Fr Lombardi said.

It includes "questionnaires that are sent out to people who may know the candidates and then the information is gathered, usually by the nunciature".

Then recommendations are forwarded either to the Congregation for Bishops or, in the case of the Church's mission lands, to the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.

The congregations make recommendations to the Pope.

Obviously, Fr Lombardi said, the key part of the process is formulating the questions and collecting information based on the characteristics essential for a bishop "in the world today, what might be the requirements and, therefore, what questions should one be attentive to in [developing] the questionnaires".

The need to review the questions and the process as a whole is constant, he said.

A statement issued after the meeting said, "naturally the theme will need to be explored further and developed in collaboration" with the Roman Curia offices assisting the Pope in identifying candidates.

Sources

• Catholic News Service
• Image: Catholic Herald

This request was put to Cardinal Oswald Gracias from India, who is a member of the so-called C8 council which is advising Pope Francis on reform of the Roman Curia.

Cardinal Gracias and Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, who heads the C8, were interviewed by Jesuit Fr Thomas Reese, last month.

This was before the latest C8 meeting at the Vatican early this month.

Part of C8 members' work thus far has been to collect suggestions from around the world, Fr Reese wrote.

Most of the bishops' conferences in Asia asked Cardinal Gracias why liturgical translations could not be done at the conference level, especially for languages in which Rome has no expertise, Fr Reese noted.

This is ironic, since Cardinal Gracias is a member of the Vox Clara group appointed by the Vatican to oversee the latest English translations.

"I know about this issue," Cardinal Gracias told Fr Reese. "I think they have a point."

"But I also worry about a bad translation leading to misunderstanding and dogmatic error 50, 100 years from now. So there has to be a balance."

He also noted, "Some conferences are too small to do the work".

"On the other hand, maybe the conferences would do a better job if they thought they would be responsible. Now they know that someone in Rome will check it. I am not sure on this."

Cardinal Ridriguez also hinted that chairs of liturgical committees in bishops' conferences could be members of the Congregation for Divine Worship.

This is how CELAM, the Latin American bishops' council, operates, Cardinal Rodriguez said.

Fr Reese noted that the C8 has set a December deadline for proposing reforms.

Reforms could include limiting service in the Vatican to five years, bringing more laity into the Curia, not making Vatican officials bishops or cardinals, and appointing more diocesan bishops with expertise to serve on congregations and councils, Fr Reese continued.

"These would be earth-shaking reforms for the Vatican," he said.

Among the topics the C8 discussed in July was procedures for the appointment of bishops, but no decisions were made.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Independent Catholic News
• Image: IBN Live

Among the items under consideration were financial matters and the reform of the Vatican bureaucracy, and, according to La Stampa, Vatican Spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi told journalists, the Pope's advisors, yesterday, presented their initial conclusions on the reform of the APSA (Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See), the IOR and the Holy See's economic and administrative structures in general.

As part of the three day meeting, a Commission looking into the Vatican bank briefed Pope Francis and the Council of Cardinals for three hours according Independent.ie.

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi confirmed the commission had given the pope and the cardinals an "ample and detailed" report on the current and past situation of the bank, and had offered "several possible indications" on its future.

Calling the report "thorough", Fr Lombardi said the cardinals show "significant interest in" the report and cardinals reportedly asked "further questions".

On Wednesday, Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, a chair of Francis' Council of eight cardinals, told the French Catholic newspaper La Croix that creating a single "finance secretariat" was needed to better organise the diverse financial departments.

He said a cardinal would probably head it, assisted by a permanent advisory body of lay experts.

According to CNS, it is rumoured the pope and council of cardinals is working on a draft of an apostolic constitution that would reorganise the church's central administration, however Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi gave nothing away other than adding the Vatican Secretary of State was present for two days of the three day meeting.

Fr Lombardi announced the pope would meet with the council again in April 28-30 and July 1-4, maintaining a pattern of gathering roughly every two months.

Sources

• La Stampa
• CNS
• La Stampa
• Independent.ie
• Associated Press
• La-Croix
• Image: La Stampa

Fr Federico Lombardi, Director of the Holy See Press Office, announced this in a briefing with journalists to explain the second session of the Cardinal's meetings which will be taking place at the Vatican until Thursday, 5 December.

The cardinals' first session was held from 1 to 3 October. On the day's agenda was "a thorough examination of the Roman Curia, which began with a reflection on the dicasteries", starting with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Fr Lombardi pointed out that "it will be a matter of readjusting: we want to go in depth. This is not a marginal improvement, but a substantial revision" of Pastor bonus in order to reach a new Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia. Continue reading

The eight Cardinals, appointed by Pope Francis, who come from around the world will be looking to reshape the current administration of the Church.

When he is in New Zealand, Cardinal Rodrigues, who is also the President of Caritas Internationalis, will meet with the New Zealand Bishops and with the staff of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand.

A personal decree known as a "chirografo" issued by Francis said their official task of the advisory council is to advise him on "governance of the universal church" and help him revise the Pastor Bonus, the apostolic constitution on the curia drawn up by Pope John Paul II in 1988.

Indications are that that revision could be dramatic and could possibly lead to a new constitution.

Cardinal Rodríguez told Italian television last weekend that the group were not planning to just change "this and that".

"No, that constitution is over."

"Now it's something different. We need to write something different. But it's not going to take one month or two months." He said.

Cardinal Rodríguez said his group had received suggestions on Vatican reform from around the world, including 80 pages of suggestions from Latin America. The convergence on a few main themes suggested God's will was at work, he said.

"You cannot have millions of Catholics in the world suggesting the same unless the Holy Spirit is inspiring."

The pope's spokesman, Federico Lombardi, said that throughout the three-day summit, the cardinals are meeting with the pope and a secretary in a private library in the apostolic palace. The pope's role is primarily to listen to what the men have to say.

The main language is Italian, but the cardinals are able to dip into their native tongue if needed. There will be no interpreters present. All are staying, alongside Francis, in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse in the Vatican.

Source

• New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference
• news.com.au
• The Telegraph
• The Guardian
• Image: Scottish Catholic Observer