UNITED STATES
InForum
Editorial
What are Catholics, and the world for that matter, to make of the stern words of Pope Francis in his Christmas lecture to senior Vatican staff? The pope minced no words in an unexpectedly harsh critique of the conduct and lifestyles of cardinals and church high officials. His extraordinary rebuke of Vatican hierarchy and bureaucracy signaled that the reforms he said he would institute will happen.
The pontiff’s denunciation of the scandal-ridden Curia, the Vatican’s administrative apparatus, was in keeping with criticism he has leveled since he was elected in March 2013. But the intensity and strong language of the Dec. 22 address to the assembled Curia were an unexpected ramping up of his campaign. And that he chose the annual address in the Apostolic Palace to denounce the Curia added more weight to his pledge to reform the Vatican’s bureaucracy.
He’s already started the housecleaning. Several senior cardinals have been replaced and/or demoted, including a few who have openly resisted the pope’s initiative. Francis shined his rhetorical klieg lights on cardinals and other church leaders who, by his definition, have adopted patrician lifestyles that are not in keeping with the doctrines of the Catholic Church.
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