Pope names Brazilian cardinal as relator general of Youth Synod

Pope Francis has chosen Brazil’s Cardinal Sérgio da Rocha to serve as relator general of next year’s Synod of Bishops on youth.

The nomination of the 58-year-old Archbishop of Brasilia was announced at the Vatican on November 18. The relator is responsible for providing a comprehensive outline of the synod’s theme at the beginning of the meeting and for summarising the speeches of synod members before work begins on concrete proposals for the pope.

Scheduled for October 3 to 28, the synod will focus on “young people, faith and vocational discernment.”

Cardinal da Rocha, a moral theologian, has decades of experience on local, diocesan, national and continental committees for youth ministry and vocations. He also serves on the general council of the secretary for the Synod of Bishops.

The Vatican also announced that Pope Francis had chosen two Italian priests as special secretaries for the synod: Jesuit Father Giacomo Costa, editor of an Italian journal focused on faith, society and justice and author of a book on discernment; and Salesian Father Rossano Sala, a theologian and professor focusing on youth ministry at Rome’s Salesian Pontifical University.

Source: Catholic Herald