UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

In a surprisingly candid assessment about a much anticipated speech today by Pope Francis, a leading Vatican reporter, John Allen of CNN and the National Catholic Reporter, stated: “Given that a cleanup operation in the Roman Curia was a large part of the mandate Francis received from the cardinals who elected him, and given the fevered speculation in Rome about what further changes might be coming, many observers were anxious to see if Francis would drop some hints in his Saturday morning speech. In the end, there was nothing like that.”

So what else is new? How many cardinals really elected Francis to conduct a “clean up operation”, as opposed to a “preservation operation, to protect cardinals’ power and wealth?

This was unexpected candor, because too many Vatican reporters spend so much time promoting the distracting PR spin about Francis’ “popular nonsense”. Francis’…