We cannot know how long we will have Pope Francis
with us (I fear for his life) but we can be sure that this moment in Church
history is a kairos, a time of grace.
He has embraced the mandate given him by the cardinals
who elected him, namely to reform the Church, especially its bureaucracy.
The so-called Vatileak documents verify the serious
problems present in the offices, departments, and dicasteries which form the
management structures of the Vatican. The turf wars, the manipulation of funds,
the misappropriation of revenues, the incompetent (some say “corrupt”)
book-keeping practices, the failure to follow accounting regulations, the
secrecy, the resistance to reform measures –all characterize the institution
Francis is working to reform.
He put it bluntly to cardinals in the Curia on July
3, 2013: “We have to better clarify the finances of the Holy See and make them
more transparent…It is no exaggeration to say that most of our costs are out of
control…Our books are not in order; we have to clean them up.”
Earlier, a report from two auditors alerted the
pope: “There is a complete absence of transparency in the book-keeping of the
Holy See and the Governorate. This lack of transparency makes it impossible to
provide a clear estimate of the actual financial status of the Vatican as a
whole and of the single entities of which it consists.”
Both of the above quotes come from top secret
documents which were shared with Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi,
confidential information now disclosed in Nuzzi’s book Merchants In The Temple (Henry Holt and Company, 2015). Msgr Lucio
Vallejo Balda, a member of the now-disbanded Commission for Reference on the
Organization of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See, was
arrested and charged with leaking the documents.
Francis’ reform efforts, however, are not confined
to finances or bureaucracy. He reminded a meeting of the national conference of
the Italian Church, some 2200 people from 220 dioceses, in November of 2015
that the Church is always in need of reform (“semper reformanda”). And he clarified that reform of the Church does
not end in plans to change structures but necessarily includes “grafting
yourself to and rooting yourself in Christ, letting yourself be guided by the
Spirit.”
He warned the prelates and laity against putting undue
trust in structures, organizations and plans, thereby stifling the movement of
the Spirit. He pointed to the danger of relying on reason and clear thinking at
the expense of losing the tenderness of the flesh of your brother.
He urged the assembly to embrace the church teaching
on the preferential option for the poor, to build not walls or borders but
meeting squares and field hospitals. :I would like, he said, “an Italian church
that is unsettled, always closer to the abandoned, the forgotten, the
imperfect. I desire a happy church with the face of a mother, who understands,
accompanies, caresses.”
In his press conference during the flight back from
Africa, Francis acknowledged that some, perhaps many, Catholics believe they
have the absolute truth and as a consequence dirty others with calumny,
disinformation and evil acts.”Religious fundamentalism,” he said, “is not religion
–it’s idolatry."
When on December 8, 2015, Pope Francis opened the
holy door marking the beginning of the Year of Mercy, he asked us to think of
it as opening ourselves to express the mercy of the Good Samaritan. “Wherever there
are people, ”he said, “the Church is called to reach out to them and to bring
the joy of the Gospel, and the mercy and forgiveness of God.”
The Holy Year of Mercy is clearly a time of grace.
The ministry of Pope Francis is also a kairos
moment in Church history. The
Francis effect and the Year of Mercy are reasons to celebrate and give thanks.
May both give life, excitement, conversion and joy to the Church and the world!
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