VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
Joshua J. McElwee | Dec. 4, 2013
ROME The new archbishop serving in the post traditionally considered one of the most powerful in the Vatican said Wednesday he knows Pope Francis intends to reform his office but not what those reforms might entail.
Archbishop Pietro Parolin, who took over as the Vatican’s secretary of state Oct. 15, said the pope and the group of eight cardinals advising him on church reform have made clear they are looking at reforms to his office, which has typically controlled both the diplomatic and political functions of the Vatican.
“I don’t know if it’s a different name or if they want to give it a new structure,” Parolin told members of the press Wednesday on the sidelines of a book release event a few blocks east of St. Peter’s Basilica.
“The important thing is for it to become a structure that is at the service of the pope as it has always been, but that it can be enhanced,” he said.
The event Wednesday was for a new book-length version of the wide-ranging interview between Pope Francis and an Italian Jesuit priest, printed in September by 16 Jesuit publications around the world. The book, La mia porta è sempre aperta (“My door is always open”), was released in November by a publishing house that also owns one of Italy’s largest newspapers.
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