At the Synod on Synodality, the Western media focused on a limited number of hot-button issues — women’s ordination, married priests and blessing of gay couples. But hidden in the synod participants’ 40-page synthesis are some surprising gems that could lead to significant reform in the church. The hidden gems The first is a new Read more
The Vatican’s top finance man Fr Juan Antonio Guerrero has warned that in economic matters Vatican finances must serve Church’s mission and not the other way around. “As the pope has often repeated, it is not for us to serve the economy, but for the economy to serve us,” said Father Guerrero at a symposium Read more
As Francis did last month when he appointed a fellow Jesuit, Fr. Juan Guerrero Alves, to take charge at the Secretariat for the Economy, the pope is filling a high-level Vatican post with a known friend and supporter of his reform agenda. And some observers wonder if this is the start of a trend that Read more
Pope Francis’ plan for the reform of the Roman Curia will change the names of several offices and merge a few of them, but the biggest change it hopes to spark is one of attitude. The last major reorganization of the Curia came with St. John Paul II’s apostolic constitution, “Pastor Bonus” (The Good Shepherd) Read more
The Vatican’s progress report on the future constitution governing the Roman Curia is “An intense work of consultation and mutual listening”. Doctrine alone is no longer enough to reach an increasingly post-Christian world, says Bishop Marcello Semeraro, Secretary of the Council of Cardinals. He points out that a “fundamental perspective” of Pope Francis’s reform efforts Read more
If there is any truth to the leaks concerning the Vatican’s forthcoming proposal to reform the Curia, it is going to be a disappointment and a disaster. A draft of the proposal, expected to be published at the end of June, was obtained by a Spanish weekly, Vida Nueva, and as the Vatican has not Read more
The cardinals who voted in conclave to elect Pope Francis did so hoping he would reform the scandal-plagued Vatican Curia and make it more responsive to the concerns of the universal church. Six years later, his Curia reform proposals are reportedly to be promulgated at the end of June, although they will probably be leaked Read more
This week, Pope Francis and his Council of Cardinals (C9) met for the 24th time to continue their discussion of curial reform and to work on the draft of a new apostolic constitution outlining the structure and duties of the Roman Curia. They dedicated much of their time to the re-reading of the draft of Read more
Major Vatican reform is almost finished says Secretary of the Pope’s international Council of Cardinals, Bishop Marcello Semeraro. Adding, the work is “nearly complete at the level of proposals made to the Pope. “I think that within a few months this revision will be more or less complete. “Then the Pope will have at his disposition Read more
Decentralising some Vatican offices as part of a number of Curia reforms is on the cards, communications from Pope Francis and the Council of Cardinals suggested after they met last week. This would mean transferring some offices from the Vatican to local bishops or episcopal conferences “in a spirit of healthy decentralization.” The Council said Read more