UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
Pope Francis, in a blistering criticism, listed at the Vatican’s Christmas party 15 “spiritual illnesses” that he suggested senior Catholic Church officials are especially prone to. In the current Harvard Business Review, a prominent consultant perceptively analyzes these “illnesses” from a management expert’s perspective. Please see, “The 15 Diseases of Leadership, According to Pope Francis“, here,
[HBR]
The management expert correctly observes that the Catholic Church is a bureaucracy: a hierarchy populated by less-than-perfect souls. In that sense, he notes, the Church is not much different than many corporate and other organizations. Of course, the Catholic hierarchy is unaccountable compared to most other organizations’ senior management. Bishops’ management performance (including the pope’s) is generally secretive and is neither reported on by independent public auditors nor subject to oversight by shareholders or publicly elected officials. Usually, the Vatican feeds the frequently opportunistic religious news reporters the latest papal pontifications, and these reporters parrot them with little attention usually to the pope’s actual course of action.
In light of my personal experience in the half century since I took a Harvard Business School management course, I think the author has apt and wise insights. Indeed, his analysis suggests to me that the pope himself seems to suffer at times from several of these illnesses. This was very evident in his recent mistaken appointment of Chilean Bishop Barros, his snubbing of his own non-clerical abuse commission members who visited his residence, and his “family-less” Family Synod. One “illness” in particular that caught my attention is the “disease of closed circles”. The author describes this as follows: ” … where belonging to a clique becomes more powerful than our shared identity. This disease too always begins with good intentions, but with the passing of time it enslaves its members and becomes a cancer which threatens the harmony of the organization and causes immense evil, especially to those we treat as outsiders. ‘Friendly fire’ from our fellow soldiers, is the most insidious danger. …
The lack of public accountability and secretiveness was recently noted in an interview by the perceptive Jesuit educated former Wall Street lawyer, Posner, the author of the troubling and comprehensive book, “God’s Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican” . Posner reportedly stated: ” I knew it would be difficult to get inside the {Vatican’s} Secret Archives… . More disappointing than being turned away from the archives, was that Vatican Press Office simply ignored for years several dozen requests by snail mail, fax, email, and telephone messages, seeking interviews with a long list of people who worked at Vatican City. I am accustomed on my book projects to someone not wanting to interview. Occasionally, when I reach out to an individual, their way of saying “no” is simply not to answer. But I have never had the department that is serving as a press office for both a sovereign country as well as one of the world’s biggest religions, simply ignore all requests for assistance. It served as a vivid reminder that the Vatican’s press office is still antiquated when it comes to cultivating good media relations.“
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