Today,
the Holy Father met with all the heads of Dicasteries of the Roman
Curia. The Dicasteries, such as the Secretariat of State, the Congregations, Tribunals, Councils and Offices, are the various organisations within the Vatican “which help the Roman Pontiff in the exercise of his supreme pastoral office for the good and service of the whole Church and of the particular Churches.”
Also present at the meeting, which took place in the Sala Bologna of the Apostolic Palace, were the President of the Governorate and the Cardinal Vicar of Rome.
In the course of the past few months, the Pope has met personally with each of the heads of the Dicasteries, holding wide-ranging conversations which each of them. This morning he met with all of them together, in a meeting chaired by himself, at the sixth month mark of his pontificate.
The meeting was intended to provide an opportunity to listen to the considerations and recommendations of the main collaborators of the Pope in Rome, which fits naturally in the context of implementing the suggestions made by the cardinals in the Congregations in preparation for the Conclave, and of the reflections of the Holy Father on the government of the Church, which will soon see another important event with the meeting of the Group of 8 cardinals in early October.
The audience began at 10:00 and ended shortly before 1:00.