VATICAN CITY
Washington Post
By David Gibson | Religion News Service December 21
A year after he delivered a blistering diagnosis of 15 “diseases” plaguing the Roman Curia, including “spiritual Alzheimer’s,” Pope Francis on Monday (Dec. 21) listed a 12-point “catalog of needed virtues” that the bishops and cardinals who run the Holy See should seek to follow.
But if the pope seemed to strike a lighter tone during his benchmark Christmas address — he quipped that after last year’s grim diagnosis he wanted to provide some “Curial antibiotics” — Francis made it clear he won’t let up on his drive to overhaul a church court that has been a source of both scandal and opposition to his reformist agenda.
“It seems necessary to state what has been — and ever shall be — the object of sincere reflection and decisive provisions,” the pope told the prelates gathered in an ornately decorated Vatican audience hall. “The reform will move forward with determination, clarity and firm resolve.”
Without mentioning specific headlines that cropped up in recent months, Francis pointedly referred to the “diseases” that have manifested since his last speech to the Curia, “causing no small pain to the entire body and harming many souls, even by scandal.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.