Council of Cardinals

This week the Council of Cardinals will be meeting with Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J.).

The group was initially announced in April 2013 and this will be their first meeting as a group in the Vatican.

Pope Francis created the group to assist him in the governance of the Universal church and to draw up a plan for the revision of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus on the Roman Curia.

Pastor Bonus is a document published on 28 June 1988 by Pope John Paul II which provides norms and structures for the Roman Curia (“the complex of dicasteries and institutes which help the Roman Pontiff in the exercise of his supreme pastoral office for the good and service of the whole Church and of the particular Churches. It thus strengthens the unity of the faith and the communion of the people of God and promotes the mission proper to the Church in the world.” - Pastor Bonus, 1). It has received several minor modifications over the years.