Vatican releases list of new synod council members

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Rounding out the membership of the council that will coordinate the follow-up to the Synod of Bishops on the family and help prepare the next synod assembly, Pope Francis named the patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, the new archbishop of Madrid and the archbishop of Brazil's capital city.

The papal nominees join the 12 members of the synod council elected by members of the Synod of Bishops on the family; the Vatican released the list of new council members Nov. 14.

Those elected at the end of the Oct. 4-25 synod, included several cardinals and bishops who had expressed concerns over synod procedures, as well as members who took strongly divergent positions at the synod, particularly on the question of a possible process for admitting some divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to the Eucharist.

Those elected to the synod council included: Cardinal Wilfrid F. Napier of Durban, South Africa; Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments; and Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia.

Pope Francis nominated Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad; Archbishop Carlos Osoro of Madrid; and Archbishop Sergio Da Rocha of Brasilia, Brazil.

Other council members elected included: Cardinals Christoph Schonborn of Vienna; Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat of the Economy; Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops; Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, India; Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, Philippines; Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, England; and Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, Italy.