Cardinal Tagle named to Vatican council to prepare for next synod
Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle was elected anew to a 15-member council of cardinals and bishops to prepare for the next synod.
Tagle already served as one of three presidents of the synod general assemblies on the family held at the Vatican in 2014 and in October this year.
According to a CBCP News post, 12 members of the ordinary council of the Synod of Bishops were elected by the synod father at the end of the Oct. 4 to 15 assembly at the Vatican.
They will assist current synod Secretary General Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri and Undersecretary Bishop Fabio Fabene in their works until the next assembly of the synod of bishops, an advisory body of the Pope.
Made public by the Vatican last Saturday, the new council is significant as they will also coordinate the follow-up to the synod on the family.
Citing the Catholic News Service, the CBCP News said the body is composed of members who took “strongly divergent positions” at the synod particularly on giving communion to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.
The council is composed of a permanent secretary general and undersecretary as well as 15 members three from each continent with Asia and Oceania counted as one and three papal appointees.
Aside from Cardinal Tagle, those elected were: Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier of Durban (South Africa), Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa (Honduras), Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy; Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops; Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai (India), Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, and Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto (Italy).
The three named by the Pope himself were: Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad; Archbishop Carlos Osoro of Madrid; and Archbishop Sergio Da Rocha of Brasilia, Brazil.