VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
John L. Allen Jr. | Jan. 29, 2014
VATICAN CITY
In ways both substantive and symbolic, the “Francis revolution” rolled on in January with personnel shuffles, policy signals and gestures intended to reinforce the pope’s vision of a more merciful church devoted to the world’s peripheries.
One eyebrow-raising move came Jan. 15, when Francis announced an overhaul of the council of cardinals responsible for supervising the Institute for the Works of Religion, better known as the Vatican bank.
The bank has long been a magnet for scandal. Francis removed all but one of the five cardinals appointed to govern the bank by Pope Benedict XVI shortly after his resignation announcement in February 2013.
Most notably, Francis ousted Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the former secretary of state, whose perceived inability to manage the inner workings of the Vatican helped fuel an anti-establishment mood in last March’s papal election.
French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Commission for Inter-religious Dialogue, is to remain on the panel, while the new members are Italian Cardinal-designate Pietro Parolin, who replaced Bertone as secretary of state; Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna; Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto; and Spanish Cardinal Santos Abril y Castilló, archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major. All five are perceived to have Francis’ trust, and both Schönborn and Collins have a record of calling for reform in bank operations.
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