Pope's strongman blasts old guard aside

John Follain
The Sunday Times (UK)
April 21, 2013

POPE FRANCIS plans to appoint lay women to top jobs in the Vatican and to dilute the power of Italian cardinals in a radical shake-up of the Catholic Church’s government following a series of scandals.

In a move branded as “revolutionary” by Vatican watchers, the Pope last weekend appointed eight cardinals to advise him on the governance and reform of the Curia, the church’s bureaucracy which has been tainted by controversies over child sex abuse by priests, leaks of papal files and allegations of corruption.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras, whom Francis named to head the panel and who is now seen as a “power behind the papal throne”, predicted a difficult fight ahead for the Argentine pontiff.

“What we’ve seen during this month and the reactions of the whole world have conveyed hope to millions of the faithful and brought closer many people who felt distant from the church,” said Maradiaga, who is the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa.

But he cautioned: “His task will not be an easy one, especially when he has to make some necessary changes.”

Tipped as a papal contender in the conclave which picked Francis, Maradiaga, 70, is known for his dynamism. He is a pilot, plays the saxophone and the piano and speaks six languages. As the head of Caritas Internationalis, the church’s charitable arm, he has criticised the Curia and shares the Pope’s vision of “a poor church, for the poor”.

Asked about hopes that the Pope will appoint more women to top Vatican jobs, Maradiaga replied: “This wish is eagerly shared by [all] the continents.”

Last month Francis, in a break with tradition, washed the feet of two young women at a juvenile detention centre, a surprising departure from church rules that restrict the Holy Thursday ritual to men.

“Francis’s predecessor [Benedict XVI] started to promote women by appointing them to be the secretaries of some departments. But if there are cases where a woman can do a better job than a man as the head of a department, then why not?” said a Vatican prelate.

Maradiaga spoke of the need to give the global church a greater voice amid calls for change in the 200-member, European-dominated College of Cardinals, traditionally the Pope’s primary advisers.

“The holy father wants to listen to voices from the whole church and therefore has nominated cardinals from every continent [to the panel],” said Maradiaga.

During pre-conclave meetings, he said, several cardinals had criticised the “very large and disproportionate number of cardinals from Europe compared with the other continents and within Europe a greater number of Italians”. The cardinals had urged “a greater presence from the rest of the church”.

Only one Italian, Giuseppe Bertello, the governor of the Vatican, has been put on the new panel. The Pope intends to dilute the domination of both cardinals and top Vatican officials from Europe — and especially Italy — and to shift the focus from the developed north to the developing south, which contains most of the world’s Catholics.

Asked how future reforms could help to turn the page on past scandals, including allegations of money laundering that had involved the Institute for Religious Works, better known as the Vatican Bank, Maradiaga said: “The Curia fulfils a well deserving role and the majority of those who serve within it are people of excellent quality.

“If some have failed we’ll find a way to turn these weaknesses into opportunities,” he added.

The new panel headed by Maradiaga is Francis’s first significant decision, so much so that it is seen as a radical step towards more democracy in the church.

Alberto Melloni, an Italian church historian, called it “the most important step in the history of the church for the past 10 centuries”.

Although the panel will have an advisory role, it will bypass the Vatican bureaucracy and give the Pope what Maradiaga calls “first-hand information” from bishoprics worldwide.

Before the last conclave several cardinals had appealed for more “collegiality” in the way the church is run and for sharing more power with local churches. The panel’s other members are from Chile, America, Italy, Germany, Australia, India and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Many have called for a radical shake-up of the Curia.

Some cardinals have called for term limits on Vatican jobs to prevent priests from becoming career bureaucrats and for better financial reporting to clean up the Vatican’s finances. Budget cuts are also likely.

In a taste of austerity to come, Francis last week scrapped the tradition that the Vatican’s 4,000 employees are paid a bonus when a pope is elected. He chose instead to give the money, €500 (£430) for each worker, to charity.