Pope Francis’ newly named Council of Cardinals is clearly a work in progress. After holding its first meeting in the papal library of the Apostolic Palace, the venue for the other five sessions was switched to a parlour at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where the Pope resides and the cardinals are lodging. That was the first of a number of small surprises that we learned at a Wednesday briefing with the Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi SJ. He said that the Pope’s chirograph (handwritten legal letter) to officially name his group of advisers the “Council of Cardinals”, gave it a “juridical status and ‘stability’ to work beyond these meetings”. He also said Francis did not choose its members as “continental delegates”, but becau