Trip to Assisi on the horizon for Pope's top men

GIACOMO GALEAZZI
Vatican Insider
April 27, 2013

The eight cardinals appointed byt he Pope to help and advise him on the issue of Curia reform could be joining Francis on his visit to Assisi. The cardinal advisors have been summoned to Rome at the start of October (probably 4 October, the feast day of the patron saint of Italy), when the Pope intends to visit St. Francis’ tomb. On 2 May, Franciscans are expected in the Holy See and a meeting between the Pope and his “board” of advisors in the sacred land of St. Francis’ pilgrimage, could be on the cards. The objective of the meeting would be to pray and discuss how to reform, streamline and moralise the Vatican machine and ecclesiastical bureaucracy, turning them into a support and a useful tool for faith rather than an obstacle.“ The trip could last several days,” the Holy See stressed. Until now, the Church has tried not to jump the gun in terms of the “geopolitics” of the Pope’s journeys. Preparation for the World Youth Day in Rio is well underway and a visit to Assisi looks likely.

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The idea of kick starting Church reform in Assisi is highly significant, historically. One day, when the young Francis was still at the beginning of his spiritual journey, he went out into the countryside to meditate. As he passed by St. Damien’s Church, which was old and on the verge of ruin, Francis felt the Holy Spirit pushing him to enter so he did so, to pray, and heard a voice addressing him from the cross three times, saying: “Francis, go and repair my church; as you can see it is in ruins.”

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