Another incomparably beautifully crafted & ‘info at a glance‘ cardinal-designate graphic by the remarkably talented & devoutFr. César J. Tobón of Colombia who has provided us with similar & much appreciated, graphics ahead of other cardinal creating consistories and whenever there has been major changes to the Roman curia. His beautiful work is always a joy to behold and an honor to present.
Fr. César J. Tobón also included these words with this graphic:
“Thy Kingdom come! Very esteemed in Christ.
A cordial greeting from Santiago de Chile.
A couple of months ago, Pope Francis announced a Consortium for the creation of new cardinals that will take place on September 30th. Let us keep in mind the words of Pope Francis at the time of the announcement: «Let us pray for the new Cardenales, so that, confirming their adherence to Christ, merciful and faithful High Priest (cf. Heb 2,17), help me in my ministry of the Obispo from Rome to the good of all the faithful Santo Pueblo de Dios». Angelus of Pope Francis, July 9, 2023.
Let us continue to order Pope Francis and his Petrine ministry. En Cristo, P. César J. Tobón, L.C.
Got it from eBay, delivered today, for $27.17 (in total).Title pages.
List of popes.
Directory of all the dioceses.
I really didn’t need it! All the information I could get from an ‘Annuario Pontifico‘ (Pontifical Yearbook), i.e., the list of popes, list of cardinals, & organization of the curia, I already have in buckets — &, moreover, in ENGLISH. The ‘AP’ is in 100% Italian, which makes it difficult for me to follow, though, of course, you can get a fairly good idea of what is being said, especially when it is talking about names.
In 2007, when I started doing my research into popes I thought that I had to get my hands on an AP just to make sure that I was not missing out of anything. In those days, I recall, that APs were hard to get, in the U.S. $120 comes to mind. I think that that was about what the average price was — plus there were long shipping times being quoted since most were being shipped across from Europe. I then quickly discovered that all the data I wanted was readily available, in English, in more extensive detail, online & in other, easier to obtain books. So, I lost interest in APs & to be honest hadn’t looked for one until last week.
Getting this ‘AP’ only came about because I was in eBay looking for OLD copies of “J.N.D. Kelly’s” ‘Oxford Dictionary Of Popes’ as I talked about in this post. I didn’t want the new revised editions published well after Kelly’s death. Partly because of nostalgia, since my old copy, in tatters, was from 2006, I wanted one (or has it transpired two) from that era. Hence, why I went to eBay. Well, as I said in that earlier post, I ended up getting two copies, one from eBay & the other from Amazon. It was after I had bought that book from eBay that it struck me that I should look to see what APs were going for. The prices varied from ~$25 to well over $70 — the newer editions typically more expensive. I really didn’t care what year I got. There was one for 1978 — the year of the 3 popes. But, I realized that this one would not include the two that got elected that year. So, I opted for the 1985, which was priced at $26 — with “Make An Offer” option. As you can see, I got it for $2, plus shipping.
It is a LARGE book. 2,070, densely packed pages. It is quite literally a red brick. I have only thumbed through it. It is cute & neat. I wish I could read Italian.
Another incomparably beautifully crafted & ‘info at a glance‘ cardinal-designate graphic by the remarkably talented & devoutFr. César J. Tobón of Colombia who has provided us with similar & much appreciated, graphics ahead of other cardinal creating consistories and whenever there has been major changes to the Roman curia. His beautiful work is always a joy to behold and an honor to present.
Fr. César J. Tobón also included these words with this graphic:
“Thy Kingdom come! Highly esteemed in Christ, A cordial greeting from Santiago de Chile. Two and a half months ago Pope Francis announced a Consistory for the creation of new cardinals that will take place on August 27. With the words of Pope Francis: “Let us pray for the new cardinals so that, confirming their adherence to Christ, they may help me in my ministry as Bishop of Rome for the good of all the holy people of God.” Regina Caeli of Pope Francis, May 29, 2022. In addition, I hope to send the updated chart of the Roman Curia once the new superiors of some of the dicasteries are confirmed. Let us continue to entrust Pope Francis and his Petrine ministry. In Christ, Fr. César J. Tobón, L.C.“
Click to ENLARGE & read here. From a rather good novel re. mid-20th century popes.Click to ENLARGE. From ‘Google News’. Click to ENLARGE. From one of my magic Papal Excels.
Well, there are enough Catholics, particularly in the U.S., that already think that Pope Francis is mad. So, part should not be a problem. The real question is does he, for all his swaggering bravado, have the chutzpah to make such a monumental call.
He should. It has been 60 years since the start of Vatican II.
The average gap between the Ecumenical Councils is 81 years — BUT that is grossly distorted by a FEW extremely long gaps, e.g., 324 & 254. As you can see from the 3rd image there were times when councils were held on a more frequent basis.
It also used to be the case that Councils were held to clarify, confirm & consolidate decisions made by a prior Council.
Francis’ of late, as the 2nd image demonstrates, is obsessed by Vatican II.
Convoking a Vatican III to ratify the pope’s desires would be a great idea.
There is, however, one PROBLEM. A Vatican III, especially given the growing discord within the Church, might go totally OFF THE RAILS!
Rather than building upon what was agreed upon at II the III MIGHT decide to discard some of the Vatican II thinking.
Intriguing?
But, wouldn’t it be worthwhile, especially now?
So, many diverse issues confronting the Church. So, why not get all the prelates together, again, & get them to have a candid soul-searching followed by some VOTES to see what the consensus is. It is possible that there is NO consensus, on anything, but the voting alone would be telling.
Yes, it would be a COSTLY, labor-intensive & complicated affair.
Folks will claim the Vatican no longer has the money to organize a Council — which this time around might be attended by upwards of 4,000 prelates. But, the Catholic Church still is the richest institution in the known solar system. Sell a few dozen items tucked away in the numerous basements & we will be all set. Or maybe a just a few of the real estate in London & Rome.
More to the point is whether today’s (reorganized) curia has the expertise & WILL to pull off a Vatican III. If you know your Vatican history you will know that ‘John XXIII‘ was blessed with a cadre of exceptional lieutenants who worked miracles to make Vatican II a reality. Does Francis have similar? Many will say ‘NO’.
This will be a MAJOR coup for Francis. It will be his crowning glory. He will forever be the pope that convoked Vatican III. Without that Francis legacy will be that of a spluttering papacy.
There is a chance that Francis will not be around when the Council starts. That is NOT a problem. But, him CONVOKING it will also GREATLY INFLUENCE the next conclave! That too is NOT a bad idea.
I am here talking about the CURRENT curia organization.
The curial changes per Pope Francis’ Praedicate evangelium Apostolic Constitution do not kick in till June 5, 2022.
I am trying to put together, per my wont, of a DEFINITIVE, up-to-date listing of the ENTIRE curial structure — before & after Praedicate evangelium. As you can see above I have a first draft BUT it needs to be fleshed out. So, I am looking at multiple sources to help me construct the definitive picture.
I, of course, took a look at the Vatican’s official website, i.e., vatican.va.
I should have known better. It is NOT like I am a newcomer to this resource. Always AMAZES me that the Vatican is so lackadaisical when it comes to there website. It is not like they are short of resources. Rome is crawling with acolytes. But, the Vatican appears to have no interest in maintaining an up-to-date website. Well, to be fair, it the LEAST of their sins!
Click to ENLARGE. A 1st draft. Will be EXPANDED & refined.
So this is Pope Francis’ Praedicate evangelium Apostolic Constitution which was promulgated yesterday (i.e., March 19, 2022) & will come into effect as of June 5, 2022.
It will, as of June 2022, totally supersede John Paul II’s 1988 Pastor bonus (which was a very big deal in its time).
I just wanted to START getting my head around the new changes. To do that I needed a visual aid. That is what we have above. Though it MAPS ALL of the new dicasteries & what they replace (& in two instances merge) it is, however, NOT complete in terms of all the other ‘offices’ that belong to the curia. The ones NOT listed are basically UNCHANGED for now. But, I want to put together, again, a DEFINITE diagram of the new curia. This was BUT a start. 1st draft. So, stay tuned.
There was also much ‘excitement’ that the new dicasteries can be headed by any officially baptized Catholic — even a female. To that end I just wanted to highlight those that are currently headed by cardinals.
I will revise & refine this post over the next couple of weeks. OK?
Br. César J. Tobón now provides this document in three languages; i.e., Spanish, Italian and English. I am, obviously, posting his original English version.
This is an update to the May 2021 chart shown below. It, as always, contains a lot of valuable information in one easy-to-follow graphic.
Also please check the wonderful Consistory images by Br. César J. Tobón.
