The Archbishop of Maracaibo (Venezuela), Bishop José Luis Azuaje Ayala, and the Archbishop of Bogotá (Colombia), Cardinal Luis José Rueda Aparicio, were elected on October 23 as members of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod.
Vatican News reported that both archbishops were chosen “from among the diocesan and eparchial bishops or equivalent members of the assembly, coming from all over the world.”
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The Ordinary Council is a body chaired by Pope Francis and is made up of 17 members, twelve of whom were chosen yesterday. They will be joined by four members of pontifical appointment and, in due course, the person in charge of the Dicastery of the Roman Curia in charge of the topic of the next Synod.
In addition to the members from Latin America, two representatives from North America, two from Europe, two from Asia and two from Africa were elected. Likewise, a representative of the Eastern Catholic Churches and one from Oceania.
The apostolic constitution Episcopal Communion points out that this Council is responsible for the preparation and conduct of the Ordinary General Assembly.
In that sense, Vatican News explained that the new members take office “at the end of the ordinary general assembly that elected them; They are members of the following ordinary general assembly and cease their functions when it is dissolved.”
“The new Ordinary Council will play a fundamental role both in carrying out this synodal process on synodality and in the preparation of the next Synod,” he added.
Eduardo Berdejo
Professional in Social Communication from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Peru, I have more than 20 years of experience in Catholic digital journalism. As part of ACI Prensa I have been sent to cover Pope Francis’ trips to Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, in addition to the Synodality Synod in the Vatican in 2023.