Cardinal Tagle elected as member of synod council

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle has been re-elected as part of the 15-member council of cardinals and bishops who will prepare for the next synod in 2016.

He was chosen as a member of the ordinary council of the Synod of Bishops during an assembly at the Vatican on Oct. 4 and 5 this year, the Manila Bulletin reported.

Cardinal Tagle have served before as one of the presidents of the synod general assemblies on the family on two occasions. One was in 2014 and another in October 2015.

Cardinal Tagle were among the 15 Cardinals and Archbishops elected to be part of the next synod. The 14 others were: Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto (Italy), Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa (Honduras), Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier of Durban (South Africa), Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy; Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops; Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai (India), Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, and Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Three were handpicked by the pope himself. They were Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad, Archbishop Sergio Da Rocha of Brasilia, Brazil.

The 15 elected members of the synod, who will serve as an advisor to the Pope, will help the current synod Secretary General Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri and Undersecretary Bishop Fabio Fabene until the next next assembly of the synod of bishops.