Pope to cardinals: let’s talk

And they will have lots to talk about when they gather in Rome later this month:

On the eve of the consistory to create 24 new cardinals, the princes of the Church will examine the entry of Anglicans into full communion with the Church and the Holy See’s response to sex abuse in the Church. Pope Benedict XVI’s successor at the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal William Joseph Levada, will present the themes.

Capping a “day of reflection and prayer,” the cardinals will take a look at three current and particularly sensitive themes.

The announcement came in a statement to journalists from the Holy See which outlined the schedule for the Nov. 19 retreat of the College of Cardinals. The schedule for the day before the highly anticipated cardinal-creating consistory includes discussions about religious freedom and “the liturgy in the life of the Church today.”

After praying vespers, the cardinals and cardinal-designates will examine three important issues in today’s Church. The first theme, proposed by prefect and cardinal-designate Angelo Amato, will reflect on 10 years since the publication of the “Dominus Iesus,” the declaration by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the universal salvation offered by Jesus Christ and the Church.

The second and third themes will be presented by Cardinal Levada. One of them will address Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Constitution “Anglicanorum coetibus,” which offers Anglicans a way to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church in the form of personal ordinariates. Ordinariates are special jurisdictions within the Church that allow members to worship according to a specific traditions.