IRELAND
Irish Times
Paddy Agnew
Tue, Oct 1, 2013
Giving his second interview in a month, Pope Francis has this morning said the Holy See was often too “Vatican-centred”, adding that he promised to “do my best” to change the Catholic Church.
In an interview with Italian daily “La Repubblica”, the pope conceded that in the past popes had been “narcissistic” as well as “flattered, and badly egged on by their courtiers”, adding: “The court is the leprosy in the Vatican. ”
Asked whether by the term “court”, he was referring to the Roman Curia, Francis replied: “No, in the Curia we sometimes have courtiers, but overall the Curia is a different thing… However, it does have a serious defect, in that it is very Vatican-centred. It sees and looks after the interests of the Vatican, which are still, in great part, temporal matters…
“This Vatican-centred vision tends to ignore the world all around us. I don’t agree with this vision and I will do my best to change it. The church is, or it has to once again become, a community for the people of God – and the priests, the bishops in caring for souls, are at the service of the people of God…”
Asked what he sees as the most urgent priorities facing the church, Francis replies: “The most serious problems afflicting the world at the moment are the unemployment of youth and the loneliness of the old. The elderly need care and company; the young need work and hope but they don’t have either, and what is worse, they don’t even look for them any more. They have been overwhelmed by the present…”
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