MALTA
Times of Malta
Sunday, December 28, 2014, 00:01 by Fr Joe Borg
The following was the reaction of Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, the former Vatican governor and foreign minister, to the Pope’s address to the Roman Curia earlier on last week, which quite naturally made the headlines: “To be honest, nothing like this has ever happened before.”
It is customary for the Pope to meet the officials of the Roman Curia at this time of year to exchange Christmas greetings. During this meeting the Pope addresses the gathered cardinals, bishops and monsignors about the state of the world, the main events and projections of the pontificate. Instead Francis spoke about the Curia, and, to boot, about the “illnesses we encounter most frequently in our life in the Curia”.
He listed 15 different illnesses or diseases. The news bulletin released by the Vatican Information Services minced no words when titling the report: “Francis: a Curia that is outdated, sclerotic or indifferent to others is an ailing body.”
The Pope, quite naturally, departed from tradition for a reason. He is fully conscious of two things: structural change without personal conversion leads to a cul-de-sac and his plan to radically reform the Roman Curia – a reform mandated by the cardinals during their pre-papal election meetings – is opposed by many high officials within the same Curia. Some express their dissent underhandedly while others, as is their right, do it publicly. Cardinal Leo Burke, who before his recent re-assignment was the prefect of the Church’s highest court, had said that there is a strong sense among many that the Church under Pope Francis “is like a ship without a rudder”.
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