VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
John L. Allen Jr. | Aug. 5, 2013
ROME
Revolutions are funny things. Some are launched by one group but hijacked by others, as in Egypt, where liberal democrats have become bystanders to the real contest between the army and the Muslim Brotherhood. Some are born amid great idealism that quickly becomes a smokescreen for hypocrisy, as in the various communist uprisings.
Still others fizzle out, while a handful eventually produce new systems that, despite their flaws, really do change the world — the French and American revolutions, for instance.
It’s too early to know which trajectory will apply to the upheaval launched by Pope Francis, in part because at the level of structures and personnel he still hasn’t made many sweeping changes, and in part because the parallels are inexact anyway — Catholicism, after all, is a family of faith, not a political society.
Perhaps the lone certainty is that a revolution is, indeed, underway. In mid-July, the Italian newsmagazine L’Espresso ran a cover story on the new pope under the banner headline “Ce la farà?” The phrase translates roughly as “Will he make it?” or “Will he pull it off?” …
To take the most obvious example, there’s long been an in-group/out-group distinction in the Vatican, between a majority who show up for work and try to do their job, and an elite minority who run “the game” — who monopolize access to the pope, who control the allocation of personnel and resources, and who otherwise pull the strings of power on the basis of patronage and political savvy.
As recently as four months ago, this game was in full swing. Ambitious personnel knew precisely who they should try to befriend, which receptions to attend, which movements they should cozy up to, which devotions to embrace and so on. Many Vatican officials found that repugnant, while others worked it to perfection, but in any event they knew the lay of the land.
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