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When Does Pope Francis Play Again

Pope Francis greets the oversupply after delivering his Christmas message and approving "urbi et orbi" (to the urban center and the earth) from the central balcony of St. Peter'southward Basilica at the Vatican December. 25, 2021. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Pope Francis plans to publish a constitution to reform the Roman Curia, appoint several senior Vatican officials, hold a consistory to create new cardinals, celebrate the 10th World Meeting of Families in Rome and, depending on the Covid-19 situation, visit countries in the Middle E, Asia, Africa and Europe—all in 2022.

The pope, who historic his 85th birthday on Dec. 17, is clearly non planning to boring down. The pope is in good health, and his plans for 2022 indicate that he is carrying out his duties as pontiff with every bit much vigor as e'er; there appears to be no resignation or conclave on the horizon.

Such a busy agenda would be daunting fifty-fifty for a younger man, but the pope, who celebrated his 85th altogether on Dec. 17, is not planning to wearisome down.

As Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias told America, Francis' mental attitude towards his papacy can be summed upward as: "The Lord has chosen me, the Lord volition protect me as long every bit he wants. I'thousand doing my all-time, and when he wants, he takes me away."

Reforming the Curia

By the end of June 2022, the final phase of the restructuring and merging of Vatican offices is expected to be completed. The Pontifical Council for Culture volition exist incorporated into the Congregation for Catholic Teaching, and the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization will be merged into the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Just later on Christmas, the pope entrusted the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization—1 of the councils being merged—with the task of preparing for the Jubilee Year 2025, but it is currently unclear what impact this task volition have on the merger.

It too remains to be seen what changes Francis will innovate into the Dicastery for Integral Human being Evolution, given that he has appointed Cardinal Michael Czerny, Due south.J., as its interim prefect and Alessandra Smerilli, F.M.A., every bit its secretary.

The pope is expected to publish the long-awaited constitution for the reform of the Roman Curia, "Praedicate Evangelium," onetime in the showtime six months of 2022.

The pope is also expected to publish the long-awaited constitution for the reform of the Roman Curia, "Predicate Evangelium" ("Preach the Gospel"), old in the first six months of 2022. Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias, a member of the pope's council of key advisors, said that he expects it to be published by Easter (April 17) if the translations into different languages have been completed by then.

Personnel Changes

Pope Francis will likely replace many, if non all, of the post-obit senior Vatican officials in the new year's day, since many of the clergy in these positions take already passed the Vatican retirement age of 75. Those who are likely to exist replaced include:

  • Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, who will be 80 in October;
  • Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (78 in April);
  • Central Marc Ouellet, the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops (78 in June);
  • Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, the prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches (79 in November);
  • Key Giuseppe Versaldi, the prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education (79 in July)
  • Central Mauro Piacenza, the major penitentiary (78 in September);
  • and Archbishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, the president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (lxxx in September).

This opens the possibility for Francis to appoint at least seven new clerics to top leadership positions in the Vatican over the coming year. If he does so, then for the first time in his pontificate, all the senior Vatican officials will be chosen by him. (As of now, some have been chosen by Pope Bridegroom Xvi and confirmed by Francis.)

New Cardinals

As the year 2021 drew to a close, the Higher of Cardinals had a total of 120 electors—the maximum number allowed, as established by Pope Paul Half-dozen in 1975—just 10 of those electors will turn lxxx in 2022, and volition accordingly lose the correct to vote in a papal conclave. Francis is expected to concord a consistory to brand new cardinals, probably in the second half of the year. He will proper noun at least x new cardinal electors then, which would increase the number of electors created past him in the Higher of Cardinals past the stop of 2022 to at least 72.

Amidst those expected to receive the carmine chapeau are 3 senior Vatican officials that Francis appointed in 2021.

Among those expected to receive the ruby hat are three senior Vatican officials that Francis appointed in 2021: Archbishop Arthur Roche of England, who is the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; Archbishop Lazarus You lot Heung-sik of Korea, who is the prefect of the Congregation for Clergy; and Archbishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga of Spain, who is the president of both the Pontifical Commission for Vatican city State and the Governorate of Vatican City State.

World Meeting of Families

Pope Francis volition participate in the tenth World Meeting of Families, which will be held in Rome from June 22 to June 26. The consequence volition have a "multi-centered format, with local initiatives in dioceses around the world," to allow those who cannot travel due to the pandemic to participate, co-ordinate to the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.

Pope Francis will participate in the tenth Globe Meeting of Families, which will be held in Rome from June 22 to June 26.

"While Rome will remain the designated venue, each diocese will be able to be the center of a local Meeting for its own families and communities," the dicastery's website reads.

Strange Visits

Francis is now the second-most-traveled pope in history, later St. John Paul Ii. Over the eight years of his pontificate and then far, he has made 35 strange journeys and visited 53 countries. The pope plans to make several more trips in 2022, though the Vatican has non yet confirmed whatsoever. While some of these visits—including to South Sudan and Lebanese republic—are subject field to alter based on local political situations, all of them will be contingent on the Covid-19 situation both in Italy and at the destinations.

Over the eight years of Francis' pontificate and then far, he has made 35 foreign journeys and visited 53 countries.

Francis has tentative plans to visit South Sudan with the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, probably in mid-2022 to foster reconciliation and consolidate the peace agreement between warring ethnic factions. But his going there volition depend, amongst other things, on whether the peace accord has been fully implemented. Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican'due south secretary for relations with states, visited South Sudan the week before Christmas on what insiders interpreted as a reconnaissance mission to evaluate whether the land is ready for a papal visit.

Vatican sources, who asked to remain bearding because they were non authorized to speak, told America that if Francis goes to S Sudan, he is likely as well to visit the Congo-kinshasa, a country that has suffered greatly from armed conflict over the by several decades—much of information technology linked to access to the country'southward rare minerals. The Democratic Republic of Congo has the largest Catholic population in Africa and is 1 of the world's 10 almost populous Cosmic countries.

Pope Francis is aiming to visit Lebanese republic as soon as possible, to give consolation and hope to the people of a country that, while suffering much, gave refuge to vast numbers of Syrian refugees in recent years but who are now experiencing severe humanitarian and economic crises.

Francis has tentative plans to visit Southward Sudan with the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, probably in mid-2022 to foster reconciliation between warring ethnic factions.

He besides wants to strengthen relations betwixt Christians and Muslims in the country. Lebanon is the only Arab nation with a large Christian population where Muslims and Christians jointly govern. Even so, he cannot visit until there is a stable, performance government in the land.

Francis too intends to visit Malta in the coming year, but merely after the land's elections have taken place, which probably ways after mid-April.

Vatican sources, who wished to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak on the subject, told America that the pope is likely to visit Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Timor Leste, with a stopover in Singapore, in the 2nd one-half of 2022. He had planned to visit these countries in 2020, but the trip had to be postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. He now feels he owes them a visit and hopes to do and so adjacent yr. Republic of indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the earth, while Timor Leste—which occupies roughly half of an island in between Republic of indonesia and Australia—is the nearly Catholic state in Asia, per capita.

In the summertime, the pope could also visit Santiago de Compostela in Spain for the conclusion of the Holy Year, which was meant to have ended in 2021 just which Francis extended to 2022 because of the pandemic.

In the summertime, the pope could likewise visit Santiago de Compostela in Spain for the decision of the Holy Year.

Francis has also indicated that he would like to visit Hungary. During his visit to Budapest in September for the International Eucharistic Congress, he promised the Hungarian president and prime number government minister that he would return in 2022 or 2023. Vatican sources say this visit could at present take place in 2022. That visit could perhaps create the opportunity for a second face-to-confront meeting with Russian Patriarch Kirill of Moscow at the Pannonhalma Archabbey, the Benedictine monastery in Republic of hungary founded in 996 C.E. that has become an ecumenical focal bespeak. (Their first meeting, the first-ever between a bishop of Rome and a patriarch of Moscow, took identify in Havana, Cuba, in 2016.)

Meanwhile, in the western hemisphere, Pope Francis was meant to visit Canada on a pilgrimage of healing and reconciliation in 2022. But a visit of several representatives of Indigenous peoples to the Vatican which had been slated for December 2021 was postponed because of the Covid-nineteen pandemic. The trip has not yet been rescheduled, suggesting that the pope is more likely to visit Canada in 2023.

Likewise, Pope Francis' visit to India is likely to take identify in early 2023, not in 2022, as Key Oswald Gracias, the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, told America in a recent interview.

Vatican-China Relations

The Holy See and Cathay signed a provisional agreement on Sept. 22, 2018, in Beijing, on the appointment of bishops in mainland Prc, which was set to be reviewed afterwards two years. The two sides agreed to renew it over again in Oct 2020 for another two years. When that extension ends in October 2022, Pope Francis will have to decide how to proceed, given that the fruits from the provisional agreement have been less than the Vatican had hoped for.

Synod on Synodality

Francis opened the synod on the theme "For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission" on Oct. 17, and the process volition continue until the plenary assembly of representatives of the earth'due south bishops is held at the Vatican in October 2023. The synodal procedure is meant to involve the whole church building, starting at the diocesan level. Francis will about certainly exist tracking how this diocesan phase is being implemented throughout 2022, and he could perhaps give a series of catecheses on the theme of synodality at his Wednesday public audiences.

Correction: A previous version of this article described the Earth Coming together of Families as almanac. It occurs every 3 years.

Gerard O'Connell

Gerard O'Connell is America's Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History. He has been roofing the Vatican since 1985.

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Source: https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2021/12/29/pope-francis-agenda-2022-242129

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