Archbishop Marchetto comments on the creation of a mini-synod of
eight cardinals appointed to advise the Pope and help reform the Curia.
It is fair to say that Pope Francis’ decision to
set up a permanent group of cardinals hailing from the five continents
to help him govern the Church and reform the Roman Curia is a fruit of
the Second Vatican Council. 
This is what Archbishop Agostino Marchetto – a diplomat for the Holy See and former Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, as well as a scholar specialising in the history of the Second Vatican Council – maintains in this interview with Vatican Insider.
What does the Pope’s decision to appoint a group of eight cardinals to advise him in governing the Church and reforming the Curia mean? Is it a novelty from an historic point of view?
“The Pope’s decision expresses the wish to proceed collatis consiliis along a process of ecclesiastical renewal, with loyalty, that takes into account the episcopal collegiality expressed by a representative council qualified to govern the church and in view of the approaching reform of the Curia. It is an instrument designed to exercise papal primacy in an authentic and proper collegial context. I wouldn’t say that it’s an unprecedented move, given the historical variety in relations between the episcopacy and papal primacy, which are both very complex and in constant evolution, even though a certain level of continental representation, which seems to have been deliberate, gives it its own particular character.”
Synods and consistories – due to the high number of participants – are not flexible instruments, not as flexible as such a limited group of people can be: is this a step towards what could finally be “efficient” collegiality?
“Operational flexibility could be its advantage when advising the Bishop of Rome in how to govern a universal Church and when studying the plans to revise the Pastor Bonus apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia. You are asking me if this constitutes a step towards what could finally be efficient collegiality: here we are entering the issue of collegiality either in a strict sense or in a broader sense, a point which is not at all academic. Its ‘efficiency’, to borrow your term, actually depends on that kind of distinction, which must be maintained. Moreover, this newly formed group is neither a committee nor a commission nor a council, even if as regards the latter it will offer the pope the option of a council from an authoritative section of the episcopacy and the college of cardinals on a universal scale. We will have to wait and see what the pope does next.”
Is Pope Francis’ decision a fruit of the Second Vatican Council?
“I think it’s fair to say that Pope Francis’s decision is in some way a fruit of the Second Vatican Council.”
The Secretariat of State became central to the government of the Roman Curia with Pope Paul VI. Is this still a valid model?
“I think the Secretariat of State’s central role in the reform of the Roman Curia as implemented by Pope Paul VI – if you also take into account the many years he spent working there and serving the Vatican – should remain the last word on the pope’s wishes in terms of its role of coordination and final direction. This moreover does not necessarily mean weakening the role of the other dicasteries. As regards this, perhaps a change in the balance should be sought. But if there is real respect of the primary role of each dicastery in its own ‘field’ then Paul VI’s model is still valid today.”
What do you think of the composition of this group of cardinals?
“I find it well planned, balanced and representative.”
What is your judgement of Pope Francis’ first month as Pope?
“I would summarise by saying that I think the outcome is favourable, or rather very favourable. He has enormous ‘screen presence’, as they say these days – something that counts – with what I would say is a general acceptance of him as a person. The pope has managed to raise a great deal of hope that we can overcome current ecclesiastical difficulties, difficulties of which we are all aware. The overriding message is that of spirituality and the wish to face today’s challenges in the Church and in the world hand-in-hand with the world’s episcopacy and the entire Church.”