VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)
03 December 2014 by Abigail Frymann Rouch
The cardinal responsible for overseeing Pope Francis’ reform of the Roman Curia has confirmed that two new congregations will be set up and suggested that lay people could be appointed to lead some of Rome’s dicasteries.
Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, co-ordinator of the so-called “C9” Council of Cardinals set up to re-organise the curia, told the Italian website Vatican Insider that two bodies dedicated to the laity and to charity were in the process of being set up.
These two congregations will be drawn from a merger of the existing pontifical councils for the laity, the family, migrants, health-care workers, justice and peace, and the Church’s charitable arm, Cor Unum. Cardinal Rodriguez also said the Secretariat of State would probably undergo a “redistribution of internal tasks”.
The Honduran cardinal also said that Rome’s congregations and pontifical councils did not have to be led by clergy. “It is also not necessary for there to be a cardinal or a bishop heading every dicastery: there could be a married couple in charge of family affairs, for example and for migrants there could be a nun who has specific experience in this area, a member of the Scalabrinian missionaries for instance.”
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