Pope gets his own chance at video meetings

The Council of Cardinals had their own "work from home" opportunity on Tuesday.

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A virtual meeting of the Council of Cardinals was held in the presence of Pope Francis on September 21, the Holy See Press Office announced. The Argentine pontiff offered them a reflection on the next Synod on Synodality.

The seven cardinals chosen by the Pope for the advisory council he began in 2013 are thus back to regular meetings, but, as so many around the world have experienced during the pandemic, they had to connect virtually.

“Pope Francis proposed a reflection on the opening of the work of the next Synod on synodality,” indicates the press release of the Holy See. The Pope highlighted two speeches as central to the work the bishops of the world will undertake at the synod.

He pointed out a 2015 speech celebrating the 50th anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops and one addressed to the faithful of the Diocese of Rome last week.

“The Pope has clearly indicated that at the heart of the reflection is not so much the deepening of this or that theme, as learning a way of living the Church, marked at all levels by mutual listening, and a pastoral attitude, especially in the face of the temptations of clericalism and rigidity,” details the press release.

Connected from their respective countries were Cardinals Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa (Honduras), Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising (Germany), Seán Patrick O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston (United States), Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay (India) and Fridolin Ambongo, Archbishop of Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo).

Cardinals Pietro Parolin and Giuseppe Bertello, as well as the secretary of the Council, Monsignor Marco Mellino, were connected from the Vatican, while Pope Francis was in his residence.

The next meeting of the Council of Cardinals is scheduled for December. As long as conditions permit it, that meeting will not be held virtually.