Team Herald
MARGAO: Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Filipe Neri Cardinal Ferrão to the prestigious committee tasked with drafting the final document for the Synod on Synodality. The Synod, which began its second session in the Vatican on October 2, will continue until October 27.
Paolo Ruffini, the synod’s communications head, announced the complete 14-member Final Document Commission at a press conference on October 8. The commission comprises six cardinals, three other bishops, three priests, a religious sister, and a laywoman theologian.
It will oversee theological experts preparing the final document, which will address crucial matters including the expansion of participation in ecclesial decision-making, enhancement of women's roles in the Church, and promotion of "sound decentralization" of authority.
Cardinal Ferrão, who is also the President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), joins this distinguished group alongside Sister Leticia Salazar from California and Fr Giuseppe Bonfrate from Rome. Other elected members include Catherine Clifford, a theologian from St. Paul University in Ottawa; Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, the president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar; Bishop Shane Mackinlay of Sandhurst, Australia; Cardinal Luis José Rueda Aparicio of Bogota, Columbia; Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille; Father Clarence Davedassan of Malaysia; and Bishop Mounir Khairallah, a Maronite Bishop.