Pope presides over Council of Cardinals meeting

By Vatican News

The February meeting of the Council of Cardinals began on Monday, 5 February, at the Vatican.

The Holy See Press Office released a statement saying all members of the so-called C-9 were present together with Pope Francis.

The Council of Cardinals last met on 4 and 5 December 2023 at Casa Santa Marta, also in the presence of the Pope.

December meeting

The main theme of the December meeting was the "role of women in the Church", thanks also to the interventions of Sister Linda Pocher, Lucia Vantini, and Father Luca Castiglion, all of them teachers and theologians.

According to a Holy See statement, on that occasion “the need to listen, also and above all in the individual Christian communities, to the feminine aspect of the Church, so that the processes of reflection and decision-making can enjoy the irreplaceable contribution of women” were reiterated.

The focus of that meeting was also on the conflicts in Ukraine and the Holy Land, on the work of COP28 which was underway in Dubai, and also on initiatives to prevent the abuse of minors and vulnerable persons.

The two-day meeting also offered an opportunity to discuss what emerged from the Synod on Synodality in October and the 'implementation' of the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium in the diocesan curias.

The new C9

The Council of Cardinals, after the Pope's renewal of the body on 7 March 2023, is composed of Cardinals Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State; Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and the Governorate of Vatican City State; Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, Archbishop of Kinshasa; Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay; Seán Patrick O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston; Juan José Omella Omella, Archbishop of Barcelona; Gérald Lacroix, Archbishop of Québec; Jean-Claude Hollerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg; Sérgio da Rocha, Archbishop of San Salvador de Bahia. The secretary is Monsignor Marco Mellino, titular bishop of Cresima. The first meeting of the new C9 took place on 24 April.

The Council of Cardinals

Pope Francis established the Council with the chirograph of 28 September 2013 with the task of assisting him in the governance of the Universal Church and to study a project for the revision of the Roman Curia, the latter realised with the new Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium published on 19 March 2022. The first C9 meeting took place on 1 October 2013.