(Vatican Radio) One of the running themes through Pope Francis’ pontificate to date has been the need to move out to the peripheries of the Church and the world. In this context, it doesn’t get more peripheral than New Zealand. The Archbishop of Wellington, John Atcherley Dew, is one of the 20 men who will be created cardinal this Saturday in the extraordinary Consistory. Few were more surprised than he was to learn his name was on the Holy Father’s list. In fact speaking to Vatican Radio he confides that he learned about his appointment to the College of Cardinals via text message. Listen to Cardinal-designate Dew’s full interview with Emer McCarthy:
“It was three o’clock in the morning in New Zealand, and the Holy Father had said the Angelus and announced the new cardinals and I heard my phone beeping with messages saying congratulations and prayers for you and I had no idea what it was about”. Together with the Bishop of Tonga, Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi, he travelled from the other side of the world to receive his red hat and bring to his fellow cardinals the concerns of the young churches on the peripheries. These include the very real impact of global warming on the people of the pacific islands, the plague of human trafficking and care of migrants – all issues that echo with Pope Francis. However, in the two days of meetings ahead of Saturday’s celebration, he together with the 19 other new members of the College of Cardinals will be briefed on the pace of the reform of the Roman Curia. Cardinal-designate says Pope Francis’ choice of new cardinals not only reflects his reaching out to local churches but his desire to bring the voice of peripheral churches to the heart of the Vatican. In this context, he hopes the reform of the Curia will put greater emphasis on the need for people in positions of governance to have pastoral experience: “My particular hope…is the hope that those who work in the Curia have pastoral experience and know what it’s like to work in a diocese and work with people. That they have the opportunity to meet people who are very often struggling in life for one thing or another. I often think that people in the Curia don’t get this opportunity, you know they speak to other bishops day in day out. So where is their opportunity for real on the ground experience. So one hope is that people don’t spend too long in a particular office, but that they can go home to their diocese to be really aware of what people have to deal with in life”. Another hope of Cardinal-designate Dew is that some of the bureaucracy is ‘tightened up a bit’ so that it is ‘much more effective’ and maybe ‘not quite as costly’. (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) One of the running themes through Pope Francis’ pontificate to date has been the need to move out to the peripheries of the Church and the world. In this context, it doesn’t get more peripheral than New Zealand. The Archbishop of Wellington, John Atcherley Dew, is one of the 20 men who…
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(Vatican Radio) One of the running themes through Pope Francis’ pontificate to date has been the need to move out to the peripheries of the Church and the world. In this context, it doesn’t get more peripheral than New Zealand. The Archbishop of Wellington, John Atcherley Dew, is one of the 20 men who…
Read more
(Vatican Radio) One of the running themes through Pope Francis’ pontificate to date has been the need to move out to the peripheries of the Church and the world. In this context, it doesn’t get more peripheral than New Zealand. The Archbishop of Wellington, John Atcherley Dew, is one of the 20 men who…
Read more
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says the end goal of the reform of the Roman Curia is to harmonize work among the Vatican offices, to achieve a more effective collaboration and promote collegiality.
The Holy Father was speaking Thursday morning to the College of Cardinals at the opening session of the Extraordinary Consistory for the creation of new cardinals on Saturday.
The College of Cardinals gathers together the Pope’s closest collaborators in the governance of the Universal Church. Currently there are 207 members in the College, 110 of whom are Cardinal electors, that is, eligible to vote in conclave for a papal election.
The College is meeting in two closed sessions Thursday and Friday at the Synod Hall, where they will be briefed on progress in the reform of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus, in the governance of the Church.
Opening the working session – which included the 20 prelates who will be created Cardinals on Saturday – Pope Francis spoke of the recently concluded Council of Nine, thanking the Council members for their work in overseeing the reform process.
He said that “the reform is not an end in itself, but a means to give a strong Christian witness; to promote a more effective evangelization; to promote a more fruitful ecumenical spirit; to encourage a more constructive dialogue with all”.
Pope Francis also pointed out that the reform of the Curia was strongly advocated by the majority of the Cardinals in the context of the general congregations before the conclave in which he was elected Pope.
The Holy Father warned the Cardinals that the goal of reform “it is not easy to achieve”, that it “requires time, determination and above all everyone’s cooperation”. He concluded that above all it demands prayer and openness to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Below please find a Vatican Radio Translation of the Holy Fathers address to the College of Cardinals.
Dear brothers,
“How good, how delightful it is to live as brothers all together!” ( Ps 133,1).
In the words of the Psalm we give praise to the Lord who has called us together and gives us the grace to welcome the 20 new cardinals in this session. To them and to all, I give my cordial greetings. Welcome to this communion, which is expressed in collegiality.
Thanks to all those who have prepared this event, especially to His Eminence Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals. I thank the Commission of nine Cardinals and the coordinator, His Eminence Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga. I also thank His Excellency Marcello Semeraro, Secretary of the Commission of Nine Cardinals: Today he will present a summary of the work done in recent months to develop the new Apostolic Constitution for the reform of the Curia. As we know, this summary has been prepared on the basis of many suggestions, even those made by the heads of the Dicasteries, as well as experts in the field.
The goal to be reached is always that of promoting greater harmony in the work of the various Dicasteries and Offices, in order to achieve a more effective collaboration in that absolute transparency which builds authentic sinodality and collegiality.
The reform is not an end in itself, but a means to give a strong Christian witness; to promote a more effective evangelization; to promote a more fruitful ecumenical spirit; to encourage a more constructive dialogue with all.
The reform, strongly advocated by the majority of the Cardinals in the context of the general congregations before the conclave, will further perfect the identity of the same Roman Curia, which is to assist the Successor of Peter in the exercise of his supreme pastoral office for the good of and in the service of the universal Church and the particular Churches. This exercise serves to strengthen the unity of faith and communion of the people of God and promote the mission of the Church in the world.
Certainly, it is not easy to achieve such a goal: it requires time, determination and above all everyone’s cooperation. But to achieve this we must first entrust ourselves to the Holy Spirit, the true guide of the Church, imploring the gift of authentic discernment in prayer.
It is in this spirit of collaboration that our meeting begins, which will be fruitful thanks to the contribution which each of us can express with parrhesía, fidelity to the Magisterium and the knowledge that all of this contributes to the supreme law, that being the salus animarum . Thank You.
(from Vatican Radio)…