In both the 2005 and 2013 conclaves, one of the major factors in the cardinal electors’ weighing of candidates was reportedly the ability of the future pontiff to direct reform of the Roman curia. While Benedict XVI was a learned and influential theologian, few of even his most loyal supporters (of which I am one) would claim administrative leadership was one of his defining qualities. Most Vatican observers and theologians argue that Francis is both better suited for and intent on completing the job of straightening out the papal “cabinet.”
The word curia, which simply means “court,” may originally be a derivation of two Latin words meaning “a community of men.” Today it refers to the administrative structure of the Holy See which enables the Roman pontiff to govern the entire Catholic church.
The most recent papal document which discusses the organization of this structure is the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus, written by John Paul II in 1988. One of Francis’ chosen advisors leading the team of cardinal collaborators sometimes called the C-8 (and one of the men thought to be a significant force in convincing others to elect Bergoglio), Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga recently said about the effort to address its shortcomings: “It is not just taking the Constitution Pastor Bonus and trying to change this and that. No! That Constitution is over. Now it is something different. We need to write something different.”
While others, most notably Cardinal Raymond Burke, are more convinced that any reform of the curia will be more continuous with PB than this implies, it is nevertheless telling that someone so close to Francis is convinced that the pope is intent upon some major revisions to the way he views the curia’s service to his office and to the universal church. Of course, Pastor Bonus is not a conciliar or ex cathedra text, but merely an alterable plan on how to govern non-divinely ordained aspects of the church, and so quite open (and intended to be able) to be revised in light of changing circumstances.
Lamentably, careerism, scandal and clashing of egos are not alien to curial life. In his Christmas address to members of the curia this year, the pope castigated those who fall prey to the tendency to backbite and whisper about their colleagues, using both the traditional papal “we” and more intimate “I” to demonstrate his seriousness: “Holiness in the Curia also means conscientious objection to gossip. We rightfully insist on the importance of conscientious objection but perhaps we, too, need to exercise it as a means of defending ourselves from an unwritten law of our surroundings, which unfortunately is that of gossip. So let us all be conscientious objectors; and mind you, I am not simply preaching! Gossip is harmful to people, our work and our surroundings.”
It will be fascinating to see what changes the new pope makes to the culture and organization of the curia in the coming months and years and what impact they will have on the life of the church.
Michael M. Canaris, Ph.D., of Collingswood, is a Research Associate at Durham University’s Centre for Catholic Studies in Northeast England.
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