Last Tuesday, when Francis was supposed to be
resting after a long cross-Atlantic trip to Brazil, he decided to work
on Curia reform amongst other things, Spanish newspaper La Razón
reports. The revelation comes from Honduran cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga who coordinates the commission of eight cardinals that is helping the Pope revamp the Vatican’s structures.
The cardinal met Bergoglio on Tuesday afternoon at the Sumaré residence and suggested the commission prepare an instrumentum laboris on Curia reform, gathering together all proposals from the bishops of the various continents, in order to make the group’s work easier and more fruitful.
“We want the ideas to come from the bottom and bishops are enthusiastic and very eager to strengthen collegiality,” Madariaga explained. Having an isntrumentum laboris that sets out bishops’ proposals would help the Pope in his decision-making, the cardinal explained.
“The goal is to ensure the Pope is better informed so as not to repeat the Vatileaks scenario under Benedict XVI. Information needs to be given directly without any middlemen,” Madariaga said.
The cardinal referred again to the envisaged restructuring of the Secretariat of State and the importance of avoiding duplication. He mentioned the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation and the Evangelisation of Peoples as examples.
Madariaga also spoke about the IOR: “It would be a good idea to transform it into an ethical bank. All States have a right to an ethical bank, so why not the Vatican?”
The cardinal recalled that before the last Conclave “we posed this question and they told us that the IOR was not a bank but a foundation. So why does it work like a bank?”