WelCom August 2022
Cardinal John Dew will be travelling to Rome at the end of this month, as Pope Francis has summoned all the cardinals to attend a Consistory in which 21 new cardinals will be created.
After the Consistory there will be 132 cardinals, with 62 per cent of them having been appointed by Pope Francis.
A major focus of the Consistory will be the two days of meetings about Praedicate Evangelium – the new document that sets out the reform of the Roman Curia. Bishops’ conferences are mentioned many times in the document, and greater consultation with them on the part of the Curia is now required before making major decisions that affect them.
There is a significant change in Praedicate Evangelium in relation to the power of governance in the Church. In canon law and sacramental theology, the exercise of the power of governance has always required ordination. Praedicate Evangelium says that it is not ordination but the canonical mission that counts in determining who can exercise governance. This opens the way for lay leadership in the Curia and potentially elsewhere if canon law (Can 129) is amended.