Saturday, April 13, Second Week of Easter
ST. MARTIN I (b Italy ?, d Crimea, 655), Pope and Martyr
The last of the martyr Popes, he had been the papal legate to Constantinople before he was elected Pope in 649 at a time when the Patriarch of Constantinople was more powerful than the Bishop of Rome. However, he was elected without the approval of the Byzantine court. He immediately called a Council at the Lateran to affirm orthodox Catholic teaching against the heretical Monothelites who claimed Christ only had a divine will. This angered the Byzantine emperor who had ordered that the subject not be discussed at all. He sent his soldiers to Rome to bring Martin to Constantinople, where he was jailed and subjected to all sorts of indignities. He was condemned for treason without being allowed to defend himself, then exiled to the Crimea where he spent at least two years of extreme deprivation and isolation until he died. He is remembered for having asserted the right of the Church to proclaim its doctrine in the face of imperial opposition.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041313.cfm
AT THE VATICAN TODAY
Pope Francis met today with
- Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops (weekly meeting)
- Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity
- H.E. Néstor Osorio, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
Pope names a council of cardinals
to assist him in governing the Church
April 13, 2013
The Secretariat of State released this communique today:
The Holy Father Francis, taking up a suggestion that emerged during the General Congregations preceding the Conclave, has established a group of cardinals to advise him in the government of the universal Church and to study a plan for revising the Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia, 'Pastor Bonus'.
The group consists of:
- Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State;
- Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz 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. Cap., archbishop of Boston, USA;
- Cardinal George Pell, archbishop of Sydney, Australia;
- Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, S.D.B., archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in the role of coordinator; and
- Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano, Italy, in the role of secretary.
The group's first meeting has been scheduled for 1-3 October 2013. His Holiness is, however, currently in contact with the aforementioned cardinals.
So, the 'reform of the Curia' begins with downgrading the Secretariat of State, because under such a set-up, the Secretary of State can no longer be seen as the #2 man at the Vatican, having been replaced by a governing council. About time, perhaps, to cut that behemoth to size! Two related problems: The new Council will need SecState to provide a bureaucratic infrastructure for carrying out its work, or is it going to have to create its own bureaucracy, not just in Rome, but presumably in the continental centers where each of the Council cardinals works?.. Conspicuously absent from the Council is Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan. Perhaps there could not be two Italians on the Council, and I suppose Cardinal Bertello is there ex-officio, being president of Vatican City State, but why should the president of Vatican City State be involved in governing the universal
Church? The other apparent snub is to Cardinal Odilo Scherer of Sao Paolo, but then perhaps, the reasoning is that he already runs the largest diocese in the world - why burden him more? (A reasoning that could also apply to Cardinal Scola, who runs the largest diocese in Europe. Why then Cardinal Marx, who runs the second-largest European diocese, instead of, say, Cardinal Erdo of Hungary, who was also papabile in the last Conclave?
Re 'Pastor bonus'
Wikipedia provides an efficient and brief overview:
Pastor Bonus is an Apostolic Constitution promulgated by Pope John Paul II on 28 June 1988. It instituted a number of reforms in the process of running the central government of the Roman Catholic Church, as article 1 states "The Roman Curia is the complex of dicasteries and institutes which help the Roman Pontiff in the exercise of his supreme pastoral office for the good and service of the whole Church and of the particular Churches. It thus strengthens the unity of the faith and the communion of the people of God and promotes the mission proper to the Church in the world".
Among the changes formulated in the constitution was the re-integration of the Council for Public Affairs of the Church into the Secretariat of State as the Section for Relations with States (the Second Section). The Council for Public Affairs of the Church had previously been a section of the Secretariat of State, but was made an independent dicastery by Pope Paul VI in 1967.
The constitution also opened membership in dicasteries to priests, deacons, religious, and lay persons. For centuries, only cardinals were eligible for membership in the organs of the Holy See, but Pope Paul VI allowed diocesan bishops to be members following calls for collegiality at the Second Vatican Council.
Pastor Bonus continued the opening of the central government of the church by allowing representatives of all the faithful to have a role in the Roman Curia.
Roles
Pastor Bonus set out the roles of the Secretariat of State, Congregations, Tribunals, Pontifical Councils, Administrative Services and Pontifical Commissions of the Roman Curia. It also established the norms for the Ad limina visits of bishops to Rome and the relationship between the Holy See and the particular Churches and episcopal conferences.
Sorry for the late postings... I am dealing with a family emergency that for now involves staying with a very sick 90-year-old woman in her hospital room the whole day, and I don't know how long I may have to do this...
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 14/04/2013 19:03]