Think tank includes seven non-Italians

Pope's curia reform council reflects Church diversity

Pope Francis has established a panel of eight cardinals to advise him on reform of the Vatican bureaucracy. Pictured are top from left Cardinals Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, retired archbishop of Santiago, Chile; Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, Congo; Giuseppe Bertello, president of the commission governing Vatican City State. From bottom left are Cardinals Sean P. O'Malley of Boston; Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, Germany; Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, India; and George Pell of Sydney. CNS photos / Paul Haring.

Catholic News Agency reports that the eight cardinals Pope Francis has chosen to advise him on church governance and reform of the curia come from a variety of backgrounds and countries, bringing with them diverse views and experience.

Paolo Gherri, a professor of theology and canon law at Pontifical Lateran University, told CNA April 16 that he believes it is significant that only one adviser is Italian and all advisers are residential archbishops who do not work in the Roman Curia.

Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano, Italy, the group's secretary, said that the choice of advisers from various parts of the world allows for "enriching and amplifying the forms of communion in the highest echelons of the church institutions," the Washington Post reports.

For full story see The B.C. Catholic website.