The Council of Cardinals met at 4:00 pm yesterday, Thursday, June 24, 2021, to discuss the current health situations in the different Continents, given the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic; to reflect on synodality and on the present sustainability of the Vatican economy, reported the Holy See Press Office.

The Members of this Council, created in 2013 to aid the Holy Father in the reform of the Roman Curia, were connected from their respective countries of residence. This was the case of Cardinals Oscar A. Rodriguez Maradiaga, Reinhard Marx, Sean Patrick O’Malley, Oswald Gracias, and Fridolin Ambongo Besungu. Connected from the Vatican were Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello and Monsignor Marco Mellino, the Council’s Secretary. Pope Francis followed the works from Casa Santa Marta. The Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin was unable to attend due to previous commitments.

After the Holy Father’s greeting, the Cardinals described briefly the situation of the current health crisis. In this connection, Cardinal Gracias thanked the Pontiff for his words and closeness given the painful situation in Myanmar. The Holy Father reiterated the importance of the synodal paths underway at the diocesan and national level, and how they must be reflected in the broader movement initiated by the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops in the last weeks.

Finally, satisfaction was expressed over the recent Moneyval Report and the progress made in the economic and financial supervision of the Holy See. The meeting ended at 6:00 pm, updating the next meeting, planned now for this coming September.

The May Meeting

 A meeting of the Council was also held online last May 6, in which the Cardinals reflected on the consequences of the pandemic and the new Apostolic Constitution on the Reform of the Curia.

The Cardinals also debated on the methodology of the work to be carried out for the revision and correction of some normative texts, after the future coming into force of the forthcoming Apostolic Constitution, as well as on the new perspectives that the text which is being written, opens.

This new Apostolic Constitution on the reform of the Roman Curia, entitled provisionally Praedicate Evangelium, will substitute the present Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus of Saint John Paul II, in force since June 28, 1988. The next meeting of the Council of Cardinals was scheduled for the month of June.

Translation by Virginia M. Forrester