Pope Francis has just renewed the council of nine cardinals (C9) responsible for assisting him in the reforms affecting the governance of the Church. While Cardinal Reinhard Marx was not reappointed to the C9, Cardinal Hollerich, champion of synodality, is entering the group.
The new cardinals are five in number: Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, Jesuit, Archbishop of Luxembourg but also general rapporteur of the Synod on Synodality, immediately draws attention. Close to Pope Francis on the theme of synodality, Msgr. Hollerich also made himself known by calling for a change in Church teaching on homosexuality in the name of a “sociological-scientific foundation that has become inadequate.”
One progressive hunts another: Cardinal Reinhard Marx, linchpin of the disastrous German Synodal Path, has meanwhile returned to his Bavarian lands to get back to the faithful of the Archdiocese of Munich, which he leads.
Cardinal Fernando Vergez Alzaga, President of the Governorate of Vatican City State, replaces Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, whose mandate has expired. It is up to him to oversee the application of the reforms that closely affect the micro-state.
The other porporati who join the C9 are: Cardinal Gérard Lacroix, Archbishop of Quebec; Cardinal Sergio da Rocha, Archbishop of Salvador de Bahia and Primate of Brazil; finally Cardinal Juan José Omella, Archbishop of Barcelona and President of the Spanish Episcopate, close to Pope Francis and his pastoral orientations.
The four other cardinals whose mandate has been renewed are Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See and as such the number two of the Vatican; Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, Archbishop of Kinshasa, DRC, a high prelate considered as a conservative and who alone symbolizes young Africa’s growing weight in the Church, and Sean Patrick O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston , Massachusetts, USA, member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
C9 Tasks
The C9 was created by the Argentine pontiff a month after his election in 2013, to advise the pope on the reform of the Roman Curia, in line with what the cardinals discussed during the congregations preceding the conclave: abuses in the Church, structural reform of the Curia, establishment of a synodal Church, not to mention what is not known...
The main task that occupied the council of cardinals for 10 years was the reform of the Curia, completed by the publication of the constitution Praedicate evangelium in March 2022, as well as its establishment.
Since then, the C9 has continued its meetings. Thus, in December 2022, the 7 cardinals then members had exchanges with the pope on the continental phase of the Synod on Synodality, on the commission for the protection of minors, and on the work of COP 27 in Egypt.
