Angelus News | May 17, 2019 | Vol. 4 No. 18

Curia reform 101
Pope Francis is making several moves
to streamline the Vatican bureaucracy
— but will they work?
BY JOHN L. ALLEN JR. / ANGELUS
ROME — When Pope Francis
was elected more than six
years ago, one of the key
things the cardinals thought
they were voting for was a thorough
reform of the Roman Curia, meaning
the central administrative bureaucracy
in the Vatican.
In part, that was a reaction to scandals
that plagued the Vatican during
the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
years, including: The Hollywoodesque
“Vatileaks” affair, in which the butler
actually did it; the bungled rehabilitation
of a Holocaust-denying traditionalist
bishop; various sexual abuse and
financial meltdowns; and a surreal
soap opera in which the head of the
Vatican security force was accused of
framing the editor of the newspaper
of the Italian bishops’ conference for
political reasons through an alleged
case of gay harassment.
Cardinals felt the train had gone off
the rails in Rome, and they wanted
somebody to make it run on time.
In part, however, the push for reform
had deeper roots, stretching back to
the Second Vatican Council (1962-
65) and its vision of a more participatory
Church, one in which all the
power in the ecclesiastical system
wasn’t concentrated in Rome.
One of the first things Francis did
was to establish a council of cardinal
advisers from around the world, which
came to be known as the “C9” (now
the “C6” after three of its members
were dismissed), whose mission was to
prepare a sweeping reform of the curia.
It has met at least four times a year
ever since, 29 times in all, and the
pope has sat in on virtually all those
sessions.
Now, the long-awaited product of all
that time and effort is set to appear in
the form of a new apostolic constitution
for the curia titled “Praedicate
Evangelium” (“Preach the Gospel”).
A draft of the document is currently
in the hands of local bishops’ conferences
around the world and a variety
of other bodies for consultation, and
it’s expected to be formally issued by
Francis soon, perhaps as early as June
29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.
According to reports, the biggest
novelty will be the creation of a “super-dicastery,”
meaning an expanded
and more powerful new Vatican department,
dedicated to evangelization,
which will result from merging two
existing bodies.
It will include the Congregation for
the Evangelization of Peoples, also
known as “Propaganda Fidei,” tasked
with overseeing “missionary territories;”
and the Pontifical Council for
the Promotion of the New Evangelization,
created in 2010 by Benedict
to confront the rapid secularization of
Western countries.
That choice has raised eyebrows in
some quarters, since it could be seen
as playing down the importance of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, the Vatican’s traditional doctrinal
watchdog agency, which over
the years has been known informally
as “La Suprema” — the “supreme”
department.
While awaiting the broader overhaul,
Francis hasn’t been idle over the last
six years.
He’s approved a large number of
smaller-scale reorganizations, created
a series of new departments for specific
purposes (such as the Secretariat
for the Economy and the Pontifical
Commission for the Protection of Minors,
for instance) and issued a host of
laws that have reshaped Vatican rules
and procedures on a variety of fronts.
Most recently, last week he issued
a new set of norms governing the
reporting of clerical sexual abuse and
cover-up and outlining how a preliminary
investigation of those charges is
supposed to work.
If that past is prologue, what can we
expect once “Praedicate Evangelium”
is official?
First, the mere fact that a department
has been created doesn’t mean reform
has arrived.
Most observers, for instance, would
say that the Secretariat for the Econ-
18 • ANGELUS • May 17, 2019