Pope Francis, at Christmas Gathering, Blasts Vatican’s Bureaucrats : The Two-Way : NPR
Pope Francis blasted the Vatican’s top bureaucrats at an annual Christmas gathering, accusing the cardinals, bishops and priests who make up the Curia of “spiritual Alzheimer’s” and of lusting for power at all costs.
“Sometimes, [officials of the Curia] feel themselves lords of the manor — superior to everyone and everything,” Francis told the Curia’s assembled members, according to Vatican Radio, which carried a report of the meeting titled “Pope Francis: Christmas greetings to Curia.”
The Curia, the administrative body of the Roman Catholic Church, is dominated by Italians who oversee the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics. Francis, an Argentine, is the first non-European to hold the papacy in more than a millennium. The former Cardinal had not worked in the Curia before his election; he has made reform of the Vatican a major part of his agenda.
“The Curia needs to change, to improve. … A Curia that does not criticize itself, that does not bring itself up to date, that does not try to improve, is a sick body,” he said.
More: Pope Francis, at Christmas Gathering, Blasts Vatican’s Bureaucrats : The Two-Way : NPR
There are those who worry about his future. I’d simply remind them that he survived decades in the hell on Earth of the Argentine Junta. The Cardinals have far more to fear than he does. May the good lord keep him safe and in his job for decades to come.
Amen.
God bless you, Bishop Francis of Rome.
The 15 ailments of the curia are here in translation: townhall.com