The Vatican Secretariat of State announced on April 13 that Pope Francis has named a committee of eight cardinals “to advise him in the government of the universal church and to study a plan for revising the apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia, ‘Pastor Bonus.’” The advisory committee represents a step toward the reform of Vatican government that was recommended during the cardinals’ meetings that preceded the papal election last month. The list of cardinals selected for the committee is notable for the high representation of the Americas (three members, including Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, O.F.M.Cap. of Boston) and English-speaking countries (also three, counting India’s Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay). The role of coordinator has been given to Cardinal Oscar A. Rodríguez Maradiaga of Honduras. Five continents are represented. Only two members come from Europe, the church’s traditional heartland, and only one shares the Italian nationality of the majority of Vatican officials. The cardinals will begin meeting in October.
