VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times
By Tom Kington
April 13, 2013
ROME — Pope Francis launched a long-awaited cleanup of the Vatican by announcing a task force Saturday made up of eight high-ranking cardinals, including one American, who will determine how best to reform the much-criticized Curia, or Vatican administration.
The new panel, comprising senior prelates from five continents, will meet for the first time in early October. Only one serving Vatican official has been named to the body.
The Vatican’s sluggish and dysfunctional bureaucracy has been blamed for a number of gaffes that plagued the papacy of Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who announced his resignation as head of the Roman Catholic Church in February. Infighting and power struggles inside the Curia were exposed by private papal letters leaked by Benedict’s butler.
In meetings held before they chose Francis as the new pontiff last month, many cardinals reportedly called for a shakeup of the Vatican, complaining that they felt the Curia was unresponsive and out of touch with its far-flung bishops and cardinals.
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