A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action: Francis’ Grand Reform of the Vatican Bank and Secretariat of State

By Andrea Tornielli
Vatican Insider
July 8, 2013

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/inquiries-and-interviews/detail/articolo/francesco-francis-francisco-26293/

POPE FRANCIS

“When you get to the age of 76, it’s not easy to change your ways and the Pope has done well to keep the same style he used in his days as archbishop of Buenos Aires,” Pelayo said, including his leadership style.

The clearest examples of this are: Francis’ sheer determination to change the image of the IOR and the Vatican as an offshore tax haven; his wish to canonize John XXIII, the Pope who convened the Second Vatican Council, even without confirmation of a second miracle; his decision to visit Lampedusa without a retinue of politicians and Church figures and his decision not to attend a recent concert in the Paul VI Hall because of more pressing duties. Pope Francis is living proof of the truth of Jesuit-taught Pope Roncalli’s comment: “There is no better way of saying something than to do it.”

“When he takes a decision he wants to be certain it is a good one. And once he’s take it, there’s no turning back,” said the Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires, Eduardo Horacio Garcia, who travelled from Argentina to Rome five days after the Conclave, carrying a pair of black shoes which Francis had had re-heeled. “He is a man of dialogue and insight. He listens, he consults others, he keeps himself informed.” Members of the Argentinean curia were often surprised when they went to inform the cardinal about something, as they quickly realised he was already in the know.

The Pope's main reform strategy is setting an example. He is not the flame-throwing Terminator figure many would like to see eradicate the Curia’s malpractices. Francis does not usually make hasty decisions. This is why uncertainty is growing among those in the Vatican who have realised they cannot “manage” Francis in the way they used to in the past.