UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Thomas C. Fox | Oct. 1, 2013 The Francis Chronicles
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 begin with the cardinals, Italian newspaper La Repubblica 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 reportedly 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.
“The (papal) court is the leprosy of the papacy,” Francis is reported to have said.
This is the English translation of the interview.
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The following are Francis quotations as reported today in the interview.
On the Roman curia …
The curia “manages the services that serve the Holy See. But it has one defect: it is Vatican-centric. It sees and looks after the interests of the Vatican, which are still, for the most part, temporal interests. This Vatican-centric view neglects the world around us. I do not share this view and I’ll do everything I can to change it. The Church is or should go back to being a community of God’s people, and priests, pastors and bishops who have the care of souls, are at the service of the people of God. The Church is this, a word not surprisingly different from the Holy See, which has its own function, important but at the service of the Church. I would not have been able to have complete faith in God and in his Son if I had not been trained in the Church, and if I had not had the good fortune of being in Argentina, in a community without which I would not have become aware myself and my faith.”
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