Pope lays out guiding principles for the reform of the Vatican Curia

Pope lays out guiding principles for the reform of the Vatican Curia.These are principally twelve: individualism; pastoral concern; missionary spirit; clear organization; improved functioning; modernization; sobriety; subsidiarity; synodality; catholicity; professionalism and gradualism.

Jan 06, 2017

1. Individual responsibility (personal conversion)

Once again I reaffirm the importance of individual conversion, without which all structural change would prove useless. The true soul of the reform are the men and women who are part of it and make it possible. Indeed, personal conversion supports and reinforces communal conversion. There is a powerful interplay between personal and communal attitudes. A single person can bring great good to the entire body, but also bring great harm and lead to sickness. A healthy body is one that can recover, accept, reinforce, care for and sanctify its members.

2. Pastoral concern (pastoral conversion)

Mindful of the figure of the shepherd (cf. Ez. 34:16; Jn. 10:1-21) and recognizing that the Curia is a community of service, “it is good for us too, called to be pastors in the Church, to let the face of God the Good Shepherd enlighten us, purify us and transform us, fully renewed, to our mission. That even in our workplaces we may feel, cultivate and practice a sound pastoral sense, especially toward the people whom we meet each day. May no one feel overlooked or mistreated, but may everyone experience, here first of all, the care and concern of the Good Shepherd.”

The efforts of all who work in the Curia must be inspired by pastoral concern and a spirituality of service and communion, for this is the antidote to all the venoms of vain ambition and illusory rivalry. Paul VI cautioned that “the Roman Curia should not be a bureaucracy, as some wrongly judge it, pretentious and apathetic, merely legalistic and ritualistic, a training ground of concealed ambitions and veiled antagonisms, as others would have it.  Rather, it should be a true community of faith and charity, of prayer and of activity, of brothers and sons of the Pope, who carry out their duties respecting one another’s competence and with a sense of collaboration, in order to serve him as he serves his brothers and sons of the universal Church and of the entire world.”

3. Missionary spirit (Christocentrism)

As the Council taught, it is the chief aim of all forms of service in the Church to bring the Good News to the ends of the earth. For “there are Church structures which can hamper efforts at evangelization, yet even good structures are only helpful when there is a life constantly driving, sustaining and assessing them. Without new life and an authentic evangelical spirit, without the Church’s fidelity to her own calling, any new structure will soon prove ineffective.”

4. Rationality (Clear organization)

On the basis of the principle that all dicasteries are juridically equal, a clearer organization of the offices of the Roman Curia was needed, in order to bring out the fact that each dicastery has its own areas of competence. These areas of competence must be respected, but they must also be distributed in a reasonable, efficient and productive way. No dicastery can therefore appropriate the competence of another dicastery, in accordance with what is laid down by law. On the other hand, all dicasteries report directly to the Pope.

5. Improved functioning

The eventual merging of two or more dicasteries competent in similar or closely connected matters to create a single dicastery serves on the one hand to give the latter greater importance (even externally). On the other hand, the closeness and interaction of individual bodies within a single dicastery contributes to improved functioning (as shown by the two recently created dicasteries).

Improved functioning also demands an ongoing review of roles, the relevance of areas of competence, and the responsibilities of the personnel, and consequently of the process of reassignment, hiring, interruption of work and also promotions.

6. Modernization (updating)

This involves an ability to interpret and attend to “the signs of the times.” In this sense, “We are concerned to make provisions that the dicasteries of the Roman Curia be suited to the circumstances of our time and adapted to the needs of the universal Church.” Such was the request of the Second Vatican Council: “the departments of the Roman Curia should be reorganized in a manner more appropriate to the needs of our time and of different regions and rites, especially in regard to their number, their titles, their competence, their procedures and how they coordinate their activities.”

7. Sobriety

Here what is called for is a simplification and streamlining of the Curia. This involves the combination or merging of dicasteries based on their areas of competence; simplification within individual dicasteries; the eventual suppression of offices no longer responding to contingent needs; the integration into dicasteries or the reduction of Commissions, Academies, Committees, etc., all in view of the essential sobriety needed for a proper and authentic witness.

8. Subsidiarity

This involves the reordering of areas of competence specific to the various dicasteries, transferring them if necessary from one dicastery to another, in order to achieve autonomy, coordination and subsidiarity in areas of competence and effective interaction in service.

Here too, respect must be shown for the principles of subsidiarity and clear organization with regard to relations with the Secretariat of State and, within the latter, among its various areas of competence, so that carrying out its proper duties it will be of direct and immediate assistance to the Pope. This will also improve coordination between the various sectors of the dicasteries and the Offices of the Curia themselves. The Secretariat of State will be able to carry out its important function precisely in achieving unity, interdependence and coordination between its sections and different sectors.

9. Synodality

The work of the Curia must be synodal, with regular meetings of Heads of the dicasteries, presided over by the Roman Pontiff; regularly scheduled Audiences of Heads of the dicasteries with the Pope, and the customary interdicasterial meetings. The reduced number of dicasteries will allow for more frequent and systematic meetings of individual Prefects with the Pope and productive meetings of Heads of dicasteries, since this cannot be the case when groups are too large.

Synodality must also be evident in the work of each dicastery, with particular attention to the Congress and at least a greater frequency of the Ordinary Sessions. Each dicastery must avoid the fragmentation caused by factors such as the multiplication of specialized sectors, which can tend to become self-absorbed. Their coordination must be the task of the Secretary, or the Undersecretary.

10. Catholicity

Among the Officials, in addition to priests and consecrated persons, the catholicity of the Church must be reflected in the hiring of personnel from throughout the world, of permanent deacons and lay faithful carefully selected on the basis of their unexceptionable spiritual and moral life and their professional competence. It is fitting to provide for the hiring of greater numbers of the lay faithful, especially in those dicasteries where they can be more competent than clerics or consecrated persons. Also of great importance is an enhanced role for women and lay people in the life of the Church and their integration into roles of leadership in the dicasteries, with particular attention to multiculturalism.

11. Professionalism

Every dicastery must adopt a policy of continuing formation for its personnel, to avoid their falling into a rut or becoming stuck in a bureaucratic routine. Likewise essential is the definitive abolition of the practice of promoveatur ut amoveatur.

12. Gradualism (discernment)

Gradualism has to do with the necessary discernment entailed by historical processes, the passage of time and stages of development, assessment, correction, experimentation and approvals ad experimentum. In these cases, it is not a matter of indecision, but of the flexibility needed to be able to achieve a true reform.