24 December
2014 A.D. Jorge Bergoglio Wirebrushes Curial Scalps—Fore
& Aft, Port & Starboard: 15 Sins of the Curia by the Pope
Caldwell,
Simon. “Pope berates Curia for 15 types of sin.” Church
Times. 23 Dec 2014. http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2014/19-december/news/world/pope-francis-berates-curia-for-15-types-of-sin.
Accessed 24 Dec 2014.
Pope Francis berates Curia
for 15 types of sin
Posted: 23
Dec 2014 @ 04:10
Christmas message: Pope Francis meets Cardinals and Bishops of the
Vatican Curia, in the Clementine hall at the Vatican, on Monday
POPE FRANCIS has accused the Vatican's bureaucracy of a host of vices,
ranging from "spiritual Alzheimer's" and "existential
schizophrenia" to gossiping, and even a lack of a sense of humour.
The Pope, who has made reform of the Roman Curia a priority of his
pontificate, used his Christmas message to publicly, and in person, reprimand
the most senior bureaucrats of the Roman Catholic Church.
The annual address of the Pope to Curial cardinals and superiors usually
involves a reflection on the business of the past and forthcoming years. But,
in his address in the Clementine Hall on Monday, the Pope listed a
"catalogue" of 15 broad spiritual ailments, in the hope that his
words might stimulate a "true examination of conscience to prepare our hearts
for holy Christmas".
They included a sense of immortality, or immunity, among some Curial
officials, who believed themselves to be beyond reproach; the
"Martha-ism" of those who work excessively; petrification of those
who develop a "heart of stone", or a "stiff neck"; and the
functionalism of clerics who become like accountants or businessmen.
The Pope also condemned the "sickness" of bad co-ordination,
when Curial departments fail to interact harmoniously; and "spiritual
Alzheimer's", when bureaucrats lose sight of the transforming love of God.
The latter, he said, is "a progressive decline of the spiritual
faculty, which, in a longer or shorter interval of time, causes serious
handicaps to the person, making him become incapable of carrying out an
autonomous activity, living in a state of absolute dependence of his often
imaginary views.
"We see it in those . . . that depend completely on their
'present', on their passions, whims, and fixations; those who build walls and
habits around themselves, becoming ever more slaves of idols that they have
sculpted with their own hands."
Clerics who sought honour and rank were also reprimanded by the Pope for
rivalry, vainglory, and worldliness, while those who gossiped and grumbled were
accused of being "sowers of discord, like Satan".
He also criticised employees who made gods out of their bosses, and
those Curial chiefs who encouraged that to happen.
One "very serious sickness" identified by the Pope was
"existential schizophrenia", whereby bureaucrats lose touch with the
needs and realities of the people they are meant to serve, while often living
dissolute lives secretly.
The Pope denounced the sicknesses of indifference to others, of
accumulating wealth and power pointlessly, and of the "cancer" of
"closed circles".
He also berated the "sickness of the mournful face", saying
that being grumpy ran counter to the Christian value of joy. He said that he
regularly recites to himself a prayer of St Thomas More, to prevent him from
being similarly afflicted.
The Pope, who was 78 on 17 December, told his audience that such
sicknesses "weaken our service to the Lord", and that they were
temptations to the whole Church, not the Curia exclusively.
But, he said, he wanted to highlight them because he wanted the Curia,
like the Church, to be purified and sanctified: "It is good to think of
the Roman Curia as a small model of the Church: that is, a body that seeks,
seriously and on a daily basis, to be more alive, healthier, more harmonious,
and more united in itself and with Christ."
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