Of the several widely
acknowledged priorities in the run-up to the conclave that chose Pope
Francis, including the challenge of secularism and the growth of the
church in the global South, none was more prominent than a need to
reform the Roman Curia, the church's central administration in the
Vatican.
The College of Cardinals extensively discussed corruption and
mismanagement sensationally documented in the 2012 "VatiLeaks" of
confidential correspondence, which were also the subject of a detailed
report that Pope Benedict XVI designated exclusively for the eyes of his
successor.
The new pope has already given signs of his intention to reform.
According to his personal notes for his pre-conclave speech to fellow
cardinals, subsequently published with his permission, then-Cardinal
Jorge Mario Bergoglio denounced the "self-referentiality" of a church
"living within herself, of herself, for herself." Although his main
target seems to have been a "theological narcissism" that saps
evangelical zeal, the future pope's words were also an implicit rebuke
to the inward-looking mindset of a pre-modern royal court, which still
characterizes the Vatican in the 21st century.
Since his election, Pope Francis' many gestures of humility and
accessibility -- such as praying at the back of the chapel where he
celebrated Mass for Vatican maintenance workers -- not only underscore
his avowed desire that the church be close to the poorest and least
powerful; they also set an example for higher-ranking officials.
His decision to live in the Vatican guesthouse rather than in the
Apostolic Palace also says a lot about his approach to management. Like a
CEO escaping the baronial isolation of his corner office, this pope
will not be a prisoner of any gatekeepers and will be free to hear a
wide range of his collaborators' voices.
As he moves beyond words and gestures to the stage of substantive
actions, no decision that Pope Francis makes will be of greater
consequence for reform of the church's bureaucracy than his choice of a
secretary of state, the Vatican's highest official, who oversees both
the internal affairs of the Holy See and its relations with 180 other
states.
Having filled that role for most of the previous pontificate, Cardinal
Tarcisio Bertone has drawn most of the blame from outside critics for
dysfunction within the Roman Curia. Whether or not the criticism is
entirely fair, the cardinal is bound to step down soon, if only because
he is already three years past the standard retirement age of 75.
Pope Francis, who has shown himself ready to defy precedent and
conventional wisdom at least in matters of protocol, could, in
principle, replace Cardinal Bertone with just about anyone.
Nevertheless, since the new pope is from Latin America and has never
studied or worked in Rome, he is likely to choose someone who shares the
Italian nationality of the vast majority of the Vatican's staff and who
has some experience working inside its bureaucracy.
Yet choosing an insider presents obvious problems for reform, if nothing
else because a Vatican resume would clash symbolically with any process
of renewal. Hence the difficulty with two otherwise well-qualified and
oft-mentioned possibilities: Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of
the commission governing Vatican City State; and Cardinal Fernando
Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples,
who served under Cardinal Bertone for four years as the "substitute" in
charge of the church's internal affairs.
One name mentioned as a possible secretary of state even before Pope
Benedict's resignation was that of Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, prefect of
the Congregation for Clergy, a man widely admired for his personal
integrity and evident devotion. But his collapse in St. Peter's Square
during Palm Sunday Mass March 24, and his subsequent hospitalization for
reported heart problems, hardly argue for his appointment to the
stressful job of administrative reformer.
Hence the appeal of a choice that would have been almost unthinkable
just weeks ago: someone with high-level experience in both the Vatican
administration and its diplomatic corps, and who has shown himself ready
to make enemies in the cause of reform.
That would be Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, formerly the second-highest
official in Vatican City State, who wrote to Pope Benedict in early
2011, warning of "corruption and abuse of power long rooted in the
various departments" of Vatican City and criticizing the inexperience of
advisers who he said had led the Vatican to lose millions of dollars in
bad investments. Pope Benedict named the archbishop nuncio to the
United States in October 2011, and he remains in that position today.
When Archbishop Vigano's charges were published in early 2012, two
cardinals took the unusual step of publicly rebuking him for his
"erroneous evaluations" and "fears unsupported by proof" -- reactions of
a kind that ordinarily do not favor one's rise in the hierarchy. But
under a pope who has shown himself more than willing to disturb the
status quo, the archbishop's notoriety may turn out to be his biggest
recommendation.