As Reform Talks Start, Pope Vows to Change Vatican Mentality

By Philip Pullella
The Euronews
October 1, 2013

http://www.euronews.com/newswires/2141026-pope-in-new-interview-vows-to-change-vatican-mentality/

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis began landmark meetings on Tuesday to reform the Vatican, promising to do all he could to change the mentality of an institution he said was too focused on its own interests.

Francis and eight cardinals from around the world are holding three days of closed-door meetings to discuss the Vatican’s troubled administration and to map out possible changes in the worldwide Church.

As the talks began, left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper published a long interview conducted by its atheist editor last week in which the Argentine pope spoke frankly about the problems facing the Vatican administration, known as the Curia.

He said too many previous popes in the Church’s long history had been “narcissists” who let themselves be flattered by “courtier” aides in the Curia instead of concentrating on the wider mission of the universal Church.