Can Pope Francis really reform the Vatican?

[cbayer]

http://www.religionnews.com/2013/04/05/can-pope-francis-really-reform-the-vatican/


Pope Francis waves to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday (March 19) at the Vatican. RNS photo by Andrea Sabbadini

Alessandro Speciale and David Gibson | Apr 5, 2013

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis has won widespread acclaim thus far in his nascent papacy with popular gestures like washing the feet of juveniles during Holy Week and refusing many papal perks. But now comes the hard part of his new job: reforming the Vatican.

The Roman Curia, as the central administration of the Catholic Church is known, has been riven by scandals and allegations of infighting and careerism, which helped undermine Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s reign and reportedly pushed him to resign.

The dysfunction was so bad that reforming the Curia became a rallying cry for many cardinals at the conclave that elected Francis. But will he deliver on the promise of reform?

Much will depend on who Francis will choose as his top aides, starting from the appointments of the new heads of key Vatican offices. So far, he has reconfirmed the Curia leadership, but he has made it clear that this is just a provisional measure while he makes up his mind about his next steps.

more at link

[Cleita]

1. I'm sure he can do a lot. But will he?

If he moves too radically, he might meet with a fatal accident. Just sayin'. I don't trust a lot of the PTB in the Vatican and I do think there are factions there capable of assassination.

[cbayer]

2. Would love to be a fly on the wall in the Vatican right now.

I hope he has significant support. Surely the PTB see that the previous attitude of just sweeping things under the rug has been disastrous.

[Dorian Gray]

3. I am curious

about this and really hope he does. Though I'm cautiously hoping. Only time will truly tell.

[cbayer]

4. Me, too. He is saying a lot of the right things and I like the way he is

behaving so far, but we shall wee.

[Dorian Gray]

9. I think that the most important thing he needs to address

is the abuses (Sexual) throughout the years. True humility and punishing the perpetrators who allowed it to continue will help heal woulds. Reparations to victims, too.

Doctrinal issues can be addressed in the future. I personally think this is the most important thing the church should focus on.

[cbayer]

10. Agree. He has said some things that indicate that he will proceed with this.

I hope he is aggressive and opens all the doors. They need to do some major disinfecting before they really can proceed.

[freshwest]

11. He's ordered zero tolerance and turning abusers over to the police. I read it on a thread here.

Said there would be no sheltering or shipping them to other parishes or even overseas as some notable ones were in the past. This is making waves that things have changed from the top down.

Someone who follows him closely and posts on him may remember better the thread it was on, but that stuck with me with I read it. Such statements indicates to me that he is in sync with most people who want this over with for good.

The financial aspect of the Vatican is supposed to be next on his list, IIRC. That is what enabled these priests to be maintained for years and hidden. So he can cut them out at the root.

I don't know how much of any of this will be in the public eye, though. I have read of priests being handed over to law enforcement recently, which was not the common practice.

This Pope appears to understand the separation of church and state much better than rightwingers in the USA.

[cbayer]

12. I had read that he made a pretty clear statement about zero tolerance, but I wonder

what kind of forces atainst him he will come up against.

Some of what he says is game changing, indeed. I hope that he has significant support among those with the most clout.

There is so much secrecy and intrigue in the Vatican. It's been that way for so long, it's hard to imagine that it can really change.

But, ever the optimist, I remain hopeful.

[Dorian Gray]

15. From your lips to god's ears.

I hope all this is true.

[hrmjustin]

5. I think he can do somethings to a certain extent.

Remember you are talking about an institution that thinks in terms of century's.
It will really depend he could get his bishops and curia to implement his reforms. Whether it is true or not the story behind Benedict's papacy was that the curia did not pay too much attention to him. Francis has to make them listen to him.

[cbayer]

6. He's off to a good start, imo.

Really has taken some challenging moves.

But I don't expect miracles or anything radical.

At least he's not moving it to the right.

[okasha]

7. I wonder how close a second- place

he ran to Benedict in the last Papal election. If it was close, then Francis and his agenda have both wide and deep support among the Cardinals.

[hrmjustin]

8. The first ballot he got about 10-20 votes. He was a distant third. The late and retired

at the time Archbishop of Milan was in second but asked his supporters not to vote for him beyond the first ballot. Benedict got about 50 votes on the first ballot. By the third ballot Benedict was about 68 ballots and Francis was at 40. Francis than told his supporters at lunch to support Benedict who won on the fourth ballot with 84 votes. Francis still got 27 votes on the fourth ballot.

[pinto]

13. To an extent, I think. His biggest impact may be on the church's membership worldwide, though.

He surely "gets" the workings of the bureaucracy and what it'll take to implement change, if that's his goal. Uphill task.

Yet, I've chuckled at some of his public symbolic and personal actions - the ritual washing of the feet which included a couple of young women, not using the pope mobile, being in public without all the trappings of the office, choosing to live in an apartment, etc.

I think he's caught the attention of many Catholics. Where it goes?

[cbayer]

14. He's caught the attention of many catholics, that is for sure. But not all of

it is good.

The question for me is how sincere is he? I get the feeling he is sincere, but he wouldn't be the first to fool me.