VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider
The work to transform the Curia and the IOR has begun
ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY
“So Your Eminence, did you get the job done?” Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, whose days as Secretary of State are numbered, knows that when Francis calls in person to check on the progress of a task he has set, there’s no beating around the bush. The cardinal usually has his audience with the Pope on Mondays. But a couple of days later, Francis calls Bertone himself – as the Vatican Secretary of State confided to figures close to him – to make sure that what was discussed is actually being put into action. Whoever thinks the Pope next door – who shows so much humanity and solidarity to those around him, bending down and hugging them during his audiences – has failed in his role as leader, is mistaken.
The second stop-off point on our journey through the small and big changes in Francis’ pontificate is to do with his leadership style. One Vatican prelate said that “in the almost eight years of Benedict XVI’s reign, the people working with him acted differently each time the Pope gave instructions for action to be taken. The Pope would think a nomination had been made, when in fact a series of obstacles had prevented it from happening. Some time later, Benedict XVI would find out that the process had been left unfinished and postponed…” There have been cases where nominations have been published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis – where all official decisions are published – without the interested party even being informed. This is because the head of the relevant dicastery did not agree with the nomination and tried to stop the Secretary of State from making it official, despite the Pope’s approval.
“Everyone in the Vatican recognises Benedict XVI’s greatness, the depth of his vision for the Church and the humility he showed by resigning; but you’ll have a hard time finding anyone in the Holy See who did not think the Curia’s work left a lot to be desired. This is evident when one looks at the Via Crucis of Ratzinger’s pontificate and the fact he had to personally intervene on a number of occasions to cover up for the failings of those who worked with him. For example when the excommunication of Holocaust denier, Bishop Williamson, was revoked.
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