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| Pope Francis |
The new Pope Francis (Cardinal Bergoglio) has made many important symbolic gestures in his first days which shows his humility. He began by asking for prayers. Recently, instead of washing the feet of 12 priests on Holy (Maundy) Thursday, he went to a juvenile detention center and washed the feet of inmates there, some of them not Catholics, some of them Muslims, but even more of a break with tradition, two of them were women. That may not seem much, but Catholic custom has held that since Jesus washed the feet of his 12 disciples at the Last Supper, and since they were all men, the Pope should only wash the feet of men on Holy Thursday. By this simple break with that custom, Pope Francis indicated not only that he wanted maintain a certain amount of freedom in his actions, but that he sincerely understood that the main thrust of this act by Jesus was to say he was a servant, which Pope Francis wants to identify with.
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| Pope Francis addresses the Curia in Clementine Hall (Vatican) |
However, on a more important note, Pope Francis has broken with another important Vatican custom. When a new pope is elected, all the Vatican department heads (who run the Curia), technically lose their jobs (much as the department heads in the United States lose their jobs when a new President is elected). (The Curia is the Vatican bureaucracy.) By custom, the new Pope simply reconfirms all the department heads already in office. In a break from this custom, Pope Francis did not reconfirm those department heads. Instead, he asked them to continue in their jobs "until other provisions are made." He said he needed time to reflect, to pray, and to consult with others. Many Vatican observers think this indicates Pope Francis will engage in a shake-up of the Curia, which many say is sorely needed. We will see. However, if Pope Francis simply wanted to keep thing the way they were, he would have simply reconfirmed all the Vatican (Curia) department heads as his predecessors had done.
Some articles about this major development, which most of the major media outlets seemed to miss.
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/francis-drops-first-hint-reform-may-be-real
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2012/12/21/full-text-of-popes-address-to-the-curia/
2 comments:
Thanks Rudy. I hope the Pope shakes things up. Also, I'm hoping for better relations between Catholics and Protestants. I hope the Pope will lead the way.
I like the way he appears to be leading by example. I don't expect a long list of academic encyclicals but shorter and more direct communiques. I know someone who knows him personally and he is also known as a tough administrator. Don't expect him to change doctrine or things like married priests etc.
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