Michael KellyThe changes in Rome will signal a shift in the balance of power between cardinals
This month will see another significant step in Pope Francis’ reform agenda in the Church. The Pontiff is due to present detailed plans for the reform of the Roman Curia – the Church’s central administration – at a closed-door meeting with cardinals at the Vatican.
Now, many Catholics may say that what happens in the Vatican civil service is of little interest or relevance to them.
However, when things go wrong in Rome, there are massive implications for the Church’s standing throughout the world and Vatican scandals – whether financial, sexual or otherwise – seriously dent the Church’s mission to be the Body of Christ.
When Benedict XVI dramatically announced that he was to step down as Pope and a new leader of the Church would be chosen, reform – particularly in the Vatican – was top of the agenda when the College of Cardinals met to consider a successor.
The so-called ‘Vatileaks’ scandal had shone a light on corruption, jealously and petty rivalry at the heart of the Church.
Jorge Bergoglio emerged from the conclave that elected him Pope with a clear mandate for reform. And he has wasted no time, or opportunity to berate those curialists who operate in the mode of an ancient court rather than as servants of the papacy and the universal Church.
So, what will the reform entail? Well, it seems likely that the Pope will want to place the concerns of the lay faithful at the heart of the curia.
There is talk in Rome of streamlining Vatican departments, making some less important and others more important.
Downgrading
Drafts of the reforms to be presented to the cardinals on February 12 are said to include the establishment of two super-congregations.
Firstly, sources indicate, the Congregation for Justice and Peace will include five secretariats: for life and human ecology; for justice and peace in the world; for migrants; for health care; and for charity. This implies the downgrading to mere secretariat within a congregation of the Pontifical Academy for Life, the Pontifical Council for Migrants, the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Health Care and the Pontifical Council Cor Unum (the Pope’s charitable office).
Secondly, a new Congregation for Laity and the Family is likely and will also include five secretariats: for laity, for family, for young people, for women and for ecclesiastical movements. The congregation will therefore consume the two Pontifical Councils for Laity and Family, plus three additional offices with specific responsibility.
The plans, if they go ahead, will see issues like the Church’s social teaching and issues relating to family life and the laity on a par with other issues. It has been seen as anamolous for some time that there are congregations – the most senior Vatican offices – for bishops, priests and religious but not for laity.
The changes in Rome will also signal a shift in the balance of power between cardinals from the Roman Curia and cardinals resident in dioceses throughout the world. Fewer pontifical councils will inevitable mean fewer high-ranking prelates being called to Rome to run them.
The Pope also signalled another layer of decentralisation late last week when it was announced that recently-appointed metropolitan archbishops – in the case of Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh and Archbishop-designate of Cashel & Emly Kieran O’Reilly – will not receive their palliums at a ceremony in Rome as has traditionally been the case. Instead, the Pope will appoint the Apostolic Nuncio in each country to present the pallium at a ceremony in the diocesan cathedral.
Thus, what has often been a distant ceremony in Rome – the significance of which is lost on many Catholics – has the opportunity to become a diocesan-wide celebration of the bonds that tie the local Church to the Pope.