By Junno Arocho Esteves • Catholic News Service • Posted June 27, 2019

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis and his international Council of Cardinals reviewed proposals and questions submitted to them about the draft of the apostolic constitution that would govern the Roman Curia, the Vatican’s interim spokesman said.

The pope “expressly wished” to listen to some of the observations about the new document, which was sent to the offices of the Roman Curia, leaders of world’s bishops’ conferences, the synods of the Eastern Catholic churches, the conferences of major superiors of men and women religious and some pontifical universities for their feedback and suggested improvements, said Alessandro Gisotti, interim director of the Vatican press office.

Bishop Marco Mellino, adjunct secretary of the council, “illustrated the proposals in the following order: general observations on the sent text, fundamental questions to be resolved before examining the text, illustration of the specific observations received,” Gisotti told journalists June 27.

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While the council has received responses from all the dicasteries and pontifical universities, they are extending time to receive observations from several bishops’ conferences “who were unable to meet the deadline,” he said.

Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano, secretary of the pope’s Council of Cardinals, told journalists that “within the year” the council hopes to hand the pope a final draft of the constitution, which bears the provisional title “Praedicate Evangelium” (“Preach the Gospel”).

Pope Francis and the Council of Cardinals are scheduled to meet again Sept. 17-19.

The six members present for the June meeting were: Cardinals Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state; Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Sean P. O’Malley of Boston; Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, India; Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, Germany; and Giuseppe Bertello, president of the commission governing Vatican City State.