Monday,
October 01
German Pope Re-Italianizes Roman Curia
The
ANNOTICO Report
Pope Paul VI, who at one time wrestled with the
Pope
Benedict, however in recent months has placed Italians as heads of pontifical
councils that deal with social communications, canon law and cultural issues.
Likewise the
Also, a
number of important middle-management posts at the
Has
German Pope Re-Italianized the Roman Curia?
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
September
28, 2007
The question has percolated around
The pontifical councils that deal with social communications,
canon law and cultural issues -- until recently headed by an American, a
Spaniard and a Frenchman -- are now in the hands of Italian bishops.
So are the Vatican Library and Secret Archives. The
An Italian Jesuit now directs the Vatican Press Office, taking over from a
Spaniard.
A number of important middle-management posts at the
Some suspect the Italian resurgence may reflect the influence of Italian
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone,
the
In a recent interview with the Italian Catholic newspaper Avvenire,
Cardinal Bertone was asked bluntly: "Is the era
of the internationalization of the Roman Curia really over?"
The cardinal responded by pointing out that Italians were still outnumbered by
non-Italians as heads of curial offices. He said internationalization was still
the way to go, but that geographic identity should never be the determining
factor in such appointments.
To illustrate that non-Italians were also being chosen, he cited the recent
appointments of a Nigerian protocol chief and a Spanish head of the
When the Polish Pope John Paul II was elected in 1978, he was the first
non-Italian to sit on the throne of St. Peter in more than 450 years. Many
Italians considered this an aberration and fully expected one of their own to
succeed him.
When Pope Benedict, a German, was elected instead -- in a conclave that by all
accounts did not field a strong Italian candidate -- it ended any lingering
illusion that the papacy belonged to
But perhaps because he had worked at the
So far, he has put nine Italians in charge of key
The Italian presence is most visible in the Secretariat of State, where the top
seven officials are now Italian, and in two important offices that control the
Yet those numbers do not tell the whole story. Of the
Early in his pontificate, the pope named U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada as his successor at the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith. It's an appointment that never went down well in some
Italian quarters, and the
The pope has since brought in three other "foreigners": Indian
Cardinal Ivan Dias at the evangelization congregation, Brazilian Cardinal
Claudio Hummes at the clergy congregation, and
Argentine Archbishop Leonardo Sandri at the Eastern
churches congregation.
That makes for an unprecedented international mix at the helm of the nine
congregations: prelates from nine different countri es and five different continents.
In the recent newspaper interview, Cardinal Bertone
touched on a related hot topic when he said a reorganization of the Roman Curia
was still under study as a hypothesis.
The first few months of Pope Benedict's pontificate brought reports of an
imminent reduction of curial offices, tantalizing those who think the
But as a veteran of the Roman Curia, Pope Benedict no doubt remembers that Pope
John Paul had a similar plan at the start of his pontificate. When it was
finally implemented after 16 years, it turned out to be a minireform
instead of a major overhaul and created as many curial agencies as it
eliminated.
Pope Paul VI, who also wrestled with the
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