Pope issues Motu proprio
regarding Dean of College of Cardinals
 |
| Pope Francis greeting Cardinal Angelo Sodano (Vatican Media) |
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of the former
Secretary of State and Dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano, and
with a special Motu proprio, establishes new guidelines for the role of the
Dean.
By Vatican News
The Pope on Saturday accepted the resignation of Cardinal
Angelo Sodano as Dean of the College of Cardinals, who has stepped down because
of his advanced age. At the same time, with a special Motu proprio,
he established that from now on the post will be for five years, that it can be
renewed if necessary, and that at the end of the mandate the outgoing cardinal
will receive the title of "Dean Emeritus".
The decision was made public after the Pope’s traditional meeting
before Christmas with members of the Roman Curia, which opened with an address
from Cardinal Angelo Sodano. The 92-year-old Italian cardinal has been a
Bishop and Apostolic Nuncio since 1978, Secretary of State from 1990 to 2005,
and successor of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Dean of the College of
Cardinals, as provided for in the norms of the Cardinals of the Order of
Bishops.
On 26 June 2018, Pope Francis decided to expand the number
of members of the Cardinal Bishops – which until then had consisted of the
titular cardinals of the suburbicarian dioceses (dioceses on the outskirts of
Rome) and the Eastern Patriarchs who were cardinals – to include the Secretary
of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Prefect of the Congregation for the
Oriental Churches, Leonardo Sandri, the Prefect of the Congregation for
Bishops, Marc Ouellet, and the then Prefect of the Congregation for the
Evangelization of Peoples, Fernando Filoni, who was recently appointed Grand
Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre.
"Now, however," writes Pope Francis in the new
Motu Proprio, "having accepted the resignation" of Cardinal Sodano,
"whom I thank warmly for the high service rendered to the College of
Cardinals in the nearly fifteen years of his mandate, and also having
considered the fact that the increase in the number of cardinals would weigh
with greater commitments on the person of the Dean of Cardinals, it seemed
appropriate to me that from now on the Dean of Cardinals, who will
continue to be elected from among the members of the Order of Bishops in the
manner established by the can. 352 § 2 of the Code of Canon Law, will remain in
office for a period of five years, which can be renewed if necessary, and that
at the end of his service, he may assume the title of Dean Emeritus of the
College of Cardinals".
The Dean of Cardinals presides over the College but has no
power of government over the other cardinals, being a "primus inter
pares". Up to now, the post had no time limit. The Dean convokes the
conclave in the case of Sede vacante (a period when there is
no Pope) and presides over it if he is less than eighty years of age and
therefore is included among the electorate. In the last conclave, in March
2013, Cardinal Sodano, already over eighty, presided over the General
Congregations of the cardinals but was not part of the conclave in the Sistine
Chapel. Instead, the task was assigned to the Vice-Dean, Cardinal Giovanni
Battista Re.
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