News by Inside the Vatican

A Canadian Cardinal in Rome: Cardinal Marc Ouellet Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops

Today, the Holy See announced a widely-rumored appointment, that of the Archbishop of Quebec, Marc Oullet (photo), Primate of the Church in Canada, as the head of the Congregation for Bishops, the Vatican office which advises the Pope on candidates for the Catholic episcopate worldwide (except in mission countries, which are under the direction of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples).

He will succeed Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re whose resignation for reason of age the Holy Father accepted at the same time.

Oullet, whom I have known for many years, is a calm, quiet, simple, thoughtful, devout man, and his appointment should ensure that the Holy Father has careful and good advice on the choice of bishops for the Church in the coming years.

Oullet is a staunch defender of life, and served in Rome as a professor at the John Paul II Institute on Marriage and the Family, then as Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

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New Office for Evangelization Created

Two days ago, on Monday, June 28, Pope Benedict formally announced the creation of the first new dicatery in the Roman Curia during his pontificate. (Previously he had decreased the number of offices, merging four dicasteries into two.)

The office will be called the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.

Pope Benedict announced the creation of a the new Council during the Vespers service marking the vigil of the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul. The place Pope Benedict chose to make the announcement, the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls, is, of course, dedicated to the first great Christian missionary to the Gentiles, St. Paul.

Today, June 30, Benedict XVI appointed the sometimes controversial Italian Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, to be president of the newly created Council.

The Sun Is Darkened: "The Eclipse of the Sense of God"

In his June 28 homily, Benedict said that the new Council would be "dedicated to the specific task of promoting a renewed evangelization in countries where the first proclamation of the faith already resounded, and where Churches are present of ancient foundation, but which are going through a progressive secularization of society and a sort of 'eclipse of the sense of God,' which constitutes a challenge to find the appropriate means to propose again the perennial truth of the Gospel of Christ."

Today, the Vatican announced the appointment of Fisichella, 58, who has also been serving as rector of the Pontifical Lateran University, to lead the new dicastery.

Born in Codogno, Italy, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Rome in 1976, and an auxiliary bishop of Rome in 1998.

In 2008, he was named president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, at which time he was elevated to the dignity of archbishop. Fisichella will be succeeded in his former post by Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, who has been serving as the academy's chancellor. The Spanish-born Carrasco de Paula is a member of Opus Dei, and has served as director of the Bioethics Institute of the University of the Sacred Heart in Rome.