Archbishop Chaput U.S. Appointee to Vatican’s Council on the Laity
The Philadelphia Archdiocese, which the archbishop shepherds, will host the 2015 World Meeting of Families.
VATICAN CITY — Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia was among those appointed by Pope Francis Feb. 6 to the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
Archbishop Chaput is also the only bishop appointed to the council who is not a cardinal, although one other appointee, Archbishop Orani Tempesta of Rio de Janeiro, is a cardinal-designate who will be given the red biretta at the Feb. 22 consistory.
The Pontifical Council for the Laity deals with the promotion and coordination of the apostolate of the laity, including the contributions of lay ecclesial movements and individuals.
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia will host the next World Meeting of Families, which Pope Francis may attend. The meeting, to be held in 2015, will gather hundreds of thousands of laity to pray, study and celebrate marriage and family life.
A native of Kansas, Archbishop Chaput was ordained a priest in the Capuchin Franciscans and served as bishop of Rapid City, Iowa, and Denver before being appointed to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 2011.
Pope Francis’ appointments to the Pontifical Council for the Laity included the confirmation of Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko of Poland as president and Bishop Joseph Clemens of Germany as secretary — posts they have held since 2003, when they were appointed by Blessed John Paul II.
The other clergy appointed Feb. 6 were cardinals Christoph Schonborn of Austria, Angelo Scola of Italy, John Njue of Kenya, Reinhard Marx of Germany, Willem Eijk of the Netherlands, Luis Tagle of the Philippines and Joao Braz de Aviz of Brazil, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life.
The lay members of the council are Yago De La Cierva of Spain, Irene Laumenskaite of Lithuania, Fabrice Hadjadj of Switzerland, Jocelyn Khoueiry of Lebanon, Franco Miano of Italy and Genevieve Sanze of Central African Republic.
Consultors to the Pontifical Council for the Laity were also appointed: Archbishop Alberto Taveira Correa and Father Fra Hans Stapel of Brazil; Archbishop Filippo Santoro, Father Arturo Cattaneo and Mimmo Muolo of Italy; Bishop Anders Arborelius of Sweden; Bishop Dominique Rey of France; Auxiliary Bishop Christoph Hegge of Germany; Alejandra Keen von Wuthenau of Peru; Laurent Landete of France; Marguerite Peeters of Belgium; Silvia Recchi of Cameroon; and Maite Uribe Bilbao of El Salvador.
