In ways both substantive and symbolic, the
"Francis revolution" rolled on in January with personnel shuffles, policy signals and gestures intended to reinforce
the pope's vision of a more merciful church devoted to the world's peripheries.
One
eyebrow-raising move came Jan. 15, when Francis announced an overhaul of the
council of cardinals responsible for supervising the Institute for the Works of
Religion, better known as the Vatican bank.
The bank has long been a magnet for scandal. Francis removed all
but one of the five cardinals appointed to govern the bank by Pope Benedict XVI
shortly after his resignation announcement in February 2013.
Most notably, Francis ousted Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone,
the former secretary of state, whose perceived inability to manage the inner
workings of the Vatican helped fuel an anti-establishment mood in last March's
papal election.
French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical
Commission for Inter-religious Dialogue, is to remain on the panel, while the
new members are Italian Cardinal-designate Pietro Parolin, who replaced Bertone
as secretary of state; Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna; Cardinal Thomas
Collins of Toronto; and Spanish Cardinal Santos Abril y Castilló, archpriest of
the Basilica of St. Mary Major. All five are perceived to have Francis' trust,
and both Schönborn and Collins have a record of calling for reform in bank
operations.
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While the overhaul represents a break with the past, sometimes
change is measured as much by what doesn't happen as what does. Two bits of
Vatican silence in January seemed to illustrate the point.
As a sensational criminal investigation of a financier with links to the
country's intelligence services unfolded in Italy, Vatican officials held their
fire despite charges of corruption within the Camillian religious order and
allegations that financier Paolo Oliverio cultivated questionable relationships
with various Vatican departments and cardinals.
Officials also kept mum on a case involving Msgr. Nunzio Scarano,
a former Vatican accountant dubbed "Monsignor 500 Euro" for flashing
large bank notes, who faced new criminal charges Jan. 21 related to
money-laundering. He was originally arrested last June for alleged involvement
in a scheme to smuggle $30 million in cash on behalf of a family of shipping
magnates.
Not long ago, officials might have asserted
sovereignty or complained of media and judicial persecution. This time,
virtually the only comment came from a Vatican bank spokesman to NCR saying that Scarano's accounts were frozen in
July when the Vatican launched its own criminal inquest.
January also brought signals that policy shifts may be in the
offing.
Speaking to the Italian Catholic journal Jesus, Bishop Marcello Semeraro confirmed that Francis
wants to recognize greater powers for bishops' conferences, including
"authentic doctrinal authority." That possibility was first raised in
Francis' November document Evangelii Gaudium.
Semeraro, bishop of the Italian diocese of Albano, was named by
Francis as the secretary of his Council of Cardinals in April. Semeraro also
dismissed criticism of the decision to circulate a public questionnaire ahead
of October's Synod of Bishops on the family.
"The beauty of this moment is that the church feels
encouraged to ask questions," he said. "The church doesn't just have
answers; it also needs to ask questions."
Francis sent a signal of sensitivity to Jewish concerns ahead of
his May trip to the Holy Land by telling Rabbi Abraham Skorka of Argentina, an
old friend with whom the future pope collaborated on a 2010 book, that he's
willing to delay sainthood for Pope Pius XII until Vatican archives from the
World War II era are completely open.
The pope moved to heal wounds inside the church by sitting down
Jan. 18 with 101-year-old Arturo Paoli, a member of the "Little Brothers
of the Gospel" order. Paoli spent 45 years in Latin America and was one of
the forerunners of liberation theology, long viewed with ambivalence in Rome.
Francis also continued to engage major world concerns, convening a
Jan. 13 summit on Syria that broke with U.S. policy by calling for the
inclusion of Iran in the Jan. 22 "Geneva II" summit. The pope's
cachet has bred an expanding list of world leaders beating a path to his door,
including President François Hollande of France Jan. 24, and the White House
has announced that U.S. President Barack Obama will arrive March 27.
Two other gestures seemed calculated to underscore a message of
mercy.
On Jan. 12, Francis baptized 32 children in the Sistine Chapel,
including a girl whose parents are married civilly but not in the church. It
was apparently the first time a child from an "irregular" marriage
was baptized in a public papal Mass.
A week later, Francis visited Rome's Basilica of the Sacred Heart
of Jesus, described by its pastor as "a periphery in the center."
Located near Rome's main train station, the parish has a large
homeless and migrant population. Among the guests of honor at Mass was an
elderly homeless woman, who was allowed to bring a shopping cart with her few
possessions into the church.
Finally, there was an indication that Francis' concern for the
poor is filtering down to the next generation of clergy.
On Jan. 10, students at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, which
draws seminarians from the developing world, organized a funeral for a
63-year-old homeless man who had died of cold in the area around the Vatican.
It was celebrated by Polish Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, who's responsible for
the pope's personal charitable initiatives and who's become a Roman celebrity.
"I'm a bishop of the streets," Krajewski said.
"It's normal that I would do this."
The fact that "bishops of the streets" have risen to
such renown is, arguably, yet another echo of the "Francis effect."
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