A year ago, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle seemed to enter a strange sort of limbo. It began with the publication of the new Vatican constitution, Praedicate evangelium, on March 19, 2022. Up to then, the Filipino cardinal had served as the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, the powerful curial department responsible Read more
The two-day meeting of all the world’s cardinals, which Pope Francis held on August 29-30, was something truly extraordinary for this pontificate — and not just because it was held, contrary to custom, in the sweltering heat of the late Roman summer. This was only the second time that Francis has convened the entire College Read more
Pope Francis has selected Luis Herrera Tejedor, a Catholic layman from Spain, to be the director of the Holy See’s newly-created “Human Resources Department”. The position is stipulated in Praedicate evangelium, the apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia, which was published last March and went into effect on June 5. The 62-year-old Herrera, a lawyer Read more
Seven women’s ordination advocates were detained outside the gates of the Vatican protesting the lack of women attending a meeting of 197 cardinals, patriarchs and priests. The women stood outside the gates of the Vatican dressed in cardinal red, each carrying a scarlet parasol emblazoned with a phrase of female empowerment. “Ordain Women”, “Reform Means Read more
I’m not telling you anything new when I say that one of the most toxic problems facing Catholicism is clericalism. By ‘clericalism’ I mean the tendency to place priests on a pedestal, to accept their pronouncements as gospel, encouraging them to feel, as Pope Francis says, ‘superior to lay people.’ It begins in seminary training Read more
A new constitution comes into force in the Vatican on Sunday, with which Pope Francis has reorganised the authority apparatus of the Catholic Church. Observers see in the new document which has the Latin title “Praedicate Evangelium” (Proclaim the Gospel) a clear will to reform on the part of the 85-year-old head of the Catholic Read more
The Vatican’s former treasurer, Cardinal George Pell, has praised Pope Francis’ reforms designed to improve transparency in the Holy See. Pell was speaking at “Real Estate and the New Evangelisation,” an event held in Rome on April 28. The cardinal addressed several questions raised by recent financial scandals in the Catholic Church. Francis’ reforms of Read more
People in the Vatican often use biblical allusions to express their expectations. Such was the case of a top Roman Curia official on March 19, just a few hours after Pope Francis had published his new apostolic constitution to fully reorganize the Church’s central bureaucracy. He was more than willing to give his views on Read more
Pope Francis offered his initial diagnosis of the Roman Curia a long time ago – on December 22, 2014 to be precise – and it was severe. He was still riding the momentum of his recent election to the papacy at the time, and before a gathering of stunned cardinals and top Vatican officials he Read more
Pope Francis has overhauled the Vatican’s central bureaucracy, dramatically expanding the number of top leadership roles lay Catholics, both men and women, can hold. On Saturday, Francis issued a new constitution for the Vatican’s central administration, known as the Curia, stating that any baptised lay Catholics can head Vatican offices. For centuries, male clerics have Read more