IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests
Brendan Hoban, in his weekly Western People column, asks is there any silence like the silence of the Irish bishops in response to Francis’ reforming agenda?
The difficult truth is that, while technically Pope Francis is all-powerful and can introduce any changes he wants the reality is, change will be blocked and is being blocked by those who see their power and influence placed at risk.
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Pope (now Saint) John XXIII was once asked how many people worked in the Vatican. He smiled his usual smile before replying, ‘I’d say, about half of them’.
The response was explained partly by his self-deprecating approach to the Vatican, and all things Roman; but partly too because, cute man that he was, he probably didn’t want to answer the question directly.
In fact, there are at present over 3,000 people working in the Vatican. What, I sometimes wonder, are they all doing? Despite the number of congregations, commissions, departments and bureaucrats, letters to Rome seem to fall into some great cavernous black hole and, it often seems, that only years later a response eventually emerges.
The Catholic Church is arguably the world’s most hierarchical organization and the impression is sometimes given that it’s a monumental, hyper-organised, well-oiled machine in total control of a global agenda; and that it keeps a sharp focus on tightly-monitored over-sight and stringent management with its finger on the relevant pulse in the dioceses that make up the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world.
The reality is very different. Despite the facade and the carefully choreographed public profile the business of managing the universal Church is a mish-mash of disorganisation and dysfunction, where cardinals and department heads behave like feudal lords. The Vatican is more a medieval village than corporate headquarters. In fact there’s a chronic disconnect between what happens in Vatican City and the Catholics of the world.
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