ITALY
RTE News
Pope Francis has called for a Catholic Church that is not cosseted, self-centred and obsessed with power and money.
His landmark statement, delivered in Florence to Italy’s bishops, comes ten days after leaks from a papal commission prompted the Vatican to arrest commission members, Fr Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, and public relations executive, Francesca Chaouqui.
Today’s plea for a different type of global Church comes two days after Pope Francis vowed to forge ahead with reforms despite evidence in the leaked documents that he is meeting resistance from the Vatican’s old guard.
The reforms have included an overhaul of the scandal-plagued Vatican bank to make its operations transparent, giving autonomy to its Financial Intelligence Authority in order to avoid interference by top cardinals, and urging Church officials to shun extravagant lifestyles.
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.