Cardinal Claudio Hummes of Brazil has confirmed that he and other cardinals are convinced of the need for reform of the Roman Curia.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Avvenire — which is owned by the Italian Catholic bishops’ conference — he said : “The topic of the Roman Curia has been much discussed by us cardinals during the General Congregations.
“Many are waiting for a reform of the Roman Curia and I’m pretty certain that Francis will do it, and will do in the light of the Word, of essentiality, of simplicity and of the humility required by the Gospel. In the wake of the Saint from whom he took the name.”
Cardinal Hummes is a friend of the Pope and sat next to him during the conclave.
Meanwhile, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York has referred to “the reform that everybody’s speaking about” on a Catholic radio programme.
As part of this reform, he said, the Vatican needs a “well orchestrated, choreographed, professional approach to the press”.
“We need to get the word out. We can’t be reacting all the time,” he said.
The method of dodging the media simply hasn’t worked, Cardinal Dolan said. “We can’t run from them, we can’t be scared of them.”
He proposed that Church leaders should instead “respond and engage the press” and make themselves available to talk about issues.
He said that officials of the Holy See should overcome their fear of publicity, recognising that information invariably seeps out.
“It’s going to be out there anyway,” he said. “If they don’t hear from us they’re going to find others who can tell it. It might not be true and it certainly is not going to be uplifting.”
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Image: Boston.com