Retired Cardinal seeks Vatican Council

Retired bishop suggests group could govern with pope, help pick next one
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — A cardinal once mentioned as a possible successor to Pope John Paul II is reviving calls for a broad council to help the pope govern the church and is suggesting top bishops might also take part in a conclave to elect a new pontiff.

Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the retired archbishop of Milan and a Jesuit known for his frankness, made the comments in an interview with the right-wing daily Il Tempo published Wednesday.

Martini noted that since the Second Vatican Council — the 1962-65 meeting that modernized the Roman Catholic Church — there have been proposals to create a “permanent governing council” to help run the church along with the pope.

While periodic synods, or gatherings of bishops, have been convened, they have not become the permanent council that Vatican II envisaged, he said.

I'm going to have to re-read the documents again, I see.

I don't recall anything about a 'permanent' council being called for in any of the Vatican II documents.

[Article here]