THE COUNCIL OF CARDINALS WILL CONTINUE TO MEET IN COMING MONTHS

Vatican City, 19 February 2014 (VIS) – The Council of the eight cardinals continued its work yesterday afternoon, in a meeting dedicated to the examination of the information presented to the cardinals yesterday and on Monday by the Commission for Reference on the the Organisation of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See (COSEA) and the Commission for Reference on the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), reported Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office, in the third of this week's daily briefings for journalists.

“The cardinals have worked intensively, they have taken a number of questions into consideration, and have formulated proposals to be presented to the Holy Father in various fields, those of economic and administrative structures, which relate to what we refer to as the economic and financial dicasteries, and on the IOR, which is a far more specific theme. It will then be up to the Holy Father to follow or to modify these proposals, but the Council has completed its task. This morning the dates of the next meetings were set: from 28 to 30 April, shortly after the canonisation of John XXIII and John Paul II, and from 1 to 4 July. It is also confirmed that the cardinals have in no way completed their reviews of the different dicasteries of the Holy See.

“This afternoon, the representatives of the Commissions which have reported to the Council of Cardinals – the so-called C8 – will do the same with the Council of Fifteen, or rather the cardinals who oversee the financial statement of the Holy See and the Governorate of Vatican City State. The C8 cardinals will also attend the meeting, to take place in the Sala Bologna of the Apostolic Palace, which is able to accommodate a large group. It will be a very brief presentation, of about fifteen minutes for each Commission, of what has been treated more exhaustively during these days. These presentations will be given by the three members of the COSEA who attended Monday's meeting, whereas the Commission for Reference on the IOR will be represented by Cardinal Raffaele Farina S.D:B., and the coordinator, Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta de Chinchetru. The C15 will hold its ordinary meetings next Monday and Tuesday, to discuss the matters within its remit. Finally, we can say that this morning and this afternoon's meetings are for communication, information and co-ordination”.

“Tomorrow the extraordinary consistory for the family will begin, in which according to the calculations of the dean, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, around 185 prelates will participate”, continued Fr. Lombardi. Some are unable to come to Rome for health reasons or due to the excessive duration of the journey. Work will begin at 9.30 a.m. with greetings from Cardinal Sodano, and will continue with an address from the Holy Father. However, we do not know if the Holy Father's address will be open to journalists or if the prelates would prefer to continue behind closed doors following the greetings from the Cardinal Dean. This will be followed by a lengthy address by Cardinal Kasper, which will be reserved to the participants in the consistory; it will not therefore be published in full. We do not yet know whether other Cardinals will have the opportunity to take the floor, considering the length of Cardinal Kasper's presentation. Other interventions are planned during the consistory but in no particular order”.

Finally, the director of the Press Office informed the journalists of the locations for the courtesy visits to the new cardinals, most of which will take place in the Paul VI Hall or the Apostolic Palace.