Pope appoints new members of the International Theological Commission

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Today the Vatican released the names of the 30 members of the International Theological Commission for the new five-year term (2014-2019). Serge-Thomas Bonino, OP, will be returning as the secretary general of the ITC. A press release from the ITC about all of this can be found here. Members of the ITC are proposed by the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in consultation with national bishops' conferences and officially appointed by the pope. The prefect of the CDF serves as the Commission's ex officio president.

Below is the list of the members for 2014-2019 term (taken from the ITC press release):

  • - Fr. Serge Thomas BONINO, OP, Secretary General, France.
  • - Fr. Terwase Henry AKAABIAM, Nigeria;
  • - Sr. Prudence ALLEN, RSM, United States of America;
  • - Sr Alenka ARKO, Loyola Community, Russian Federation - Slovenia;
  • - Msgr. Antonio Luiz CATELAN FERREIRA, Brazil;
  • - Msgr. Piero CODA, Italy;
  • - Fr. Lajos DOLHAI, Hungary;
  • - Fr. Peter DUBOVSKÝ, SJ, Slovakia;
  • - Fr. Mario Angel FLORES RAMOS, Mexico;
  • - Fr. Carlos María GALLI, Argentina;
  • - Fr. Krzysztof GÓŹDŹ, Poland;
  • - Fr. Gaby Alfred HACHEM, Lebanon;
  • - Fr. Thomas KOLLAMPARAMPIL, CMI, India;
  • - Fr. Koffi Messan Laurent KPOGO, Togo;
  • - Fr. Oswaldo MARTÍNEZ MENDOZA, Colombia;
  • - Professor Moira Mary McQUEEN, Canada – Great Britain;
  • - Fr. Karl Heinz MENKE, Germany;
  • - Fr. John Junyang PARK, Korea;
  • - Fr. Bernard POTTIER, SJ, Belgium;
  • - Fr. Javier PRADES LÓPEZ, Spain;
  • - Professor Tracey ROWLAND, Australia;
  • - Professor Héctor Gustavo SÁNCHEZ ROJAS, SCV, Perú;
  • - Professor Marianne SCHLOSSER, Austria - Germany;
  • - Fr. Nicholaus SEGEJA M'HELA, Tanzania;
  • - Fr. Pierangelo SEQUERI, Italy;
  • - Fr. Željko TANJIĆ, Croatia;
  • - Fr. Gerard Francisco P. TIMONER III, OP, Philippines;
  • - Fr. Gabino URIBARRI BILBAO, SI, Spain;
  • - Fr. Philippe VALLIN, France;
  • - Fr. Thomas G. WEINANDY, OFMCap., United States of America

New Prefect for the Holy Office

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The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has a new prefect. Here is a translation of the announcement from yesterday’s Bolletino of the Vatican press office:

The Holy Father Benedict XVI accepted the resignation presented, on account of age limits, by the Most Eminent Cardinal William Joseph Levada from his duties as Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and President of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei,” of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and of the International Theological Commission, and has called to succeed him in the same duties His Excellency Monsignor Gerhard Ludwig Müller, hitherto Bishop of Regensburg, elevating him at the same time to the dignity of Archbishop.

Yes, I could have broken this up into a few independent sentences but I thought it was more diverting to leave it as a single sentence as it is in the Italian original.

The resignation and appointment are no surprise to anyone who has been following the speculations of the Vaticanisti. But it’s still important news.