Rorate Caeli

Pope: minor changes within the Roman Curia, explains mini-Consistory

From the final allocution of Pope Benedict XVI to the Synod of Bishops:

Before thanking you on my part, I would like to make an announcement. In the context of the reflections of the Synod of Bishops, "The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith," and at the end of a process of reflection on the themes of seminaries and Catechesis, I am pleased to announce that I have decided, after further reflection and prayer to transfer jurisdiction over Seminaries from the Congregation for Catholic Education, to the Congregation for the Clergy and competence of Catechesis from the Congregation for the Clergy, to the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.

The relative documents will be forthcoming in the form of an Apostolic Letter Motu Proprio to identify the fields and their faculties. Let us pray to the Lord to accompany the three Dicasteries of the Roman Curia in this important mission, with the collaboration of the entire Church.

I would also like to express my cordial greetings to the new Cardinals. With this little Consistory I wanted to complete the Consistory of February, in the context of the new evangelization, with a gesture of the universality of the Church, showing that the Church is the Church of all peoples, she speaks in all languages, she is always a Church of Pentecost; not the Church of one continent, but a universal Church. This was precisely my intention, to express this in this context, this universality of the Church, which is also the beautiful expression of this Synod. For me it was really uplifting, comforting and encouraging to see here a reflection of the universal Church with its suffering, threats, dangers and joys, experiences of the Lord's presence, even in difficult situations. [Source. Translation: Radio Vaticana]