Catholic Online Forum

Pope Benedict XVI has summoned the members of the College of Cardinals to a special consistory, for a discussion of liturgy, religious freedom, and the sex-abuse scandal.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, will introduce the first main topic, speaking about the threats to religious freedom around the world. Next Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, will open the discussion of liturgy.

In the afternoon, three topics will on the agenda. Archbishop Angelo Amato, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, will speak on ecumenical prospects, 10 years after the release of Dominus Iesus. Then Cardinal William Levada, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will brief the cardinals on the latest developments in the sex-abuse scandal. Finally Cardinal Levada will speak on a topic that could provoke a lively conversation: the implementation of the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus and the establishment of ordinariates for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church.