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"Career-Focused Clergy Should Leave The Vatican And Go Back To The Parishes"

Waste and external consulting were among the issues addressed at Francis’ meeting with the eight-member Council of Cardinals. The Pope’s advisor task force also discussed the possibility of nominating a moderator of the Curia
Giacomo Galeazzi
vatican city
Nothing will ever be the same again. Francis has opened the “G8” meetings for the reform of the Curia entrusting them with the mission of freely discussing everything that can help improve the Holy See. The eight cardinals took him by his word, immediately putting innovative proposals on the table to simplify Vatican bureaucracy.

The number one priority is to make the Curia n machine more efficient by cutting costs and positions of power. Ideas currently being discussed are the merging of dicasteries and the nomination of a “moderator curiae” (a moderator of the Curia). There are too many bodies that share the same tasks, particularly in the financial field (Prefecture, APSA, Governorate) and the field of welfare (Pontifical Councils for Justice and Peace, Health and Migrants). Too many external consultants have been hired to oversee the Secretariat of State, the Vatican bank (IOR) and the Holy See’s communications in particular. A spending review is currently being studied to prune the incomes of individuals in certain roles within the ecclesiastical “caste” system. The Curia needs to help spread the faith not act as an obstacle. So career-focused clerics would do well to leave the Holy See and go back to ministering in the parishes. The president of the Vatican bank (IOR), Ernst von Freyberg told Vatican Radio that the bank is ready for an inspection of its management system and embassies with Vatican bank accounts will have to conform to international financial transparency standards. The first “G8” meeting was held in the private library of the papal apartment in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace. The papal apartment has remained vacant since Ratzinger resigned on 28 February.

The “G8” has addressed a broad range of issues on Church government and Curia reform. There will be a Synod specifically dedicated to the pastoral care of families. “For years now interdicasterial meetings have been held to distribute roles and tasks that could easily be attributed to more than one dicastery,” a former minister said. “There are some Congregations and Pontifical Councils that are not worth keeping. There have been internal battles to obtain further powers. For example the Congregation for the Clergy lost authority over the Seminaries to the Congregation for Catholic Education. Francis’ reforms will remove dead branches and finally transform the Curia into a useful body that can better serve the universal Church.”

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