Cardinal Tagle Confirms Curia Reform Is a Must

By Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican Insider
June 16, 2013

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/curia-curia-curia-25684/

Luis Antonio Tagle

“The Curia is in need of purification and reform. Every Curia needs purification in order to guarantee the truth” Filipino cardinal, Luis Antonio Tagle told journalists Friday night, when asked if Curia reform was necessary.

Cardinal Tagle was born to a Chinese mother, in Manila, where he is now archbishop. He is a parish priest, rector of a seminary, a theology and philosophy professor, a Second Vatican Council scholar and belongs to Giuseppe Alberigo’s Bologna school of thought. When he finished presenting his book, “Easter People: Living Community”, Tagle answered a question about the Vatican bank (IOR): Is reform needed? “Possibly, after all, Ecclesia Semper Reformanda Est,” the cardinal replied.

At the age of thirty, Cardinal Tagle found himself penniless in America. He earned a living working in a library, transporting packages and boxes. His mother (a former employees – as was his father – of Equitable bank) broke down in tears when she found out. But Tagle would not accept any money from his parents or his brother who was living in the U.S. The cardinal makes good use of television and the internet: He appears regularly on Filipino television, giving commentaries on Sunday readings and his catecheses for young people have been published on the web weekly since 1999. The text contains a series of meditations inspired by the modern world on the one hand, but on the other are deeply rooted in the Gospel of the Resurrection. This can only be adequately proclaimed by prophetic and missionary communities that follow the spirit of the New Testament Church and promote hope and solidarity.

At a sex abuse symposium held in the Vatican in 2012, Tagle spoke bout cover-ups and suggested that the Church should stop “waiting for a bomb to drop” and instead try to prevent a scandal. The Archbishop of Manila takes the bus or his bike to go and replace the priests in his parish. He often invites homeless people, who find shelter in the square in front of his cathedral, to eat with him.

He said he had never heard cardinals speak of “corruption” and “gay lobbies” in the Curia but since the Church is also a human institution, it is not free from temptation and sin. Cardinal Tagle told Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera that Pope Francis also means this when he speaks about corruption, underlining that it is time to “admit” that these are realities of the Church today and are not just recent phenomena. “We live in a world in which corruption exists both in politics and in society and it is a temptation within the Church,” the cardinal explained. “Sin and corruption are a part of Church history and the great ecumenical councils were above all opportunities for purification and conversion. The voice of the Lord calls everyone to covert. But this conversion is an act of courage: the courage to admit the sickness that afflicts the hearts of humans, society and unfortunately the Church as well. The Church needs to have “evangelical courage, like Pope Francis. Not the courage of adventure-seekers who are guided by ambition, but the courage of those who trust in the Lord who has already triumphed over evil and over sin in the world,” the cardinal added.