All of this gives rise to the thought that the economic crisis was just an excuse, even if supported by real data. And that, in the end, the need for a freeze on hiring is motivated by the upcoming streamlining of the Roman Curia. A step forward in Pope Francis’ path of reform.

Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodriguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa (Honduras) and coordinator of the Council of Cardinals, has spoken several times about a possible new Congregation for the Laity. This Congregation would include as its departments the current Pontifical Councils for Laity, for the Family, for the Migrants and for Justice and Peace. A hint of this “amalgamation” would be that Pope Francis has confirmed the heads of these Pontifical Councils just until the end of their current terms in office. By contrast, the heads of other dicasteries have been so far confirmed for full new terms in office (i.e. their terms have been renewed, resetting the clock to keep them in office for five years from the time of Pope Francis’ election).

The Congregation for the Eastern Churches and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity have been the last dicasteries’ heads that Pope Francis fully confirmed, on Feb. 19.

The general project of Curia reform – according to rumors – would include the creation of a Congregation for Culture and New Evangelization, which would include the Pontifical Councils for Social Communication, for the New Evangelization and for Culture.

These moves would allow Pope Francis to make some further changes without the necessity of amending the Pastor Bonus, the Pastoral Constitution that regulates the functions of the Curia.

One of the changes would have to do with the head of the dicasteries. Until now, Congregations must be chaired by cardinals, while Pontifical Councils can be chaired by a cardinal or an archbishop. According to these rules, layman cannot chair a dicastery.

Changing a pastoral constitution requires time. But if a dicastery is turned into a department, the latter can be chaired by anyone. For instance, a married couple could lead the Department for the Family.

In fact, none of these changes represent a definitive reform. The meetings of the Council of Cardinals are still in the general discussion phase. Also the Commission for the Protection of Minors, announced at the end of the December meeting, is just a proposal still to be realized, as Father Federico Lombardi, Director of the Holy See Press Office, explained during a media briefing.

It is the same for reforms. Cardinals have just put on the table some proposals, gathering opinions from the dicasteries in a somewhat lose manner (just asking employees directly, rather than asking the dicasteries).

Those who were waiting for a quick and drastic reform had to change their mind when Cardinal Maradiaga, in one of his countless interviews to the press (that not every cardinal appreciated), said: «Time is needed for reforms.»

So, Pope Francis’ revolution is increasingly becoming a series of “cosmetic” changes, perhaps useful to clean the Church’s tarnished image, but not deep enough for real change.

Also the reviled Vatican finances may be subjected to this cosmetic treatment. Since the beginning of their meetings, the cardinals of the Council have been talking about the establishment of a sort of Vatican “Ministry of Finances” (to consolidate in one place all the Vatican financial activities). Perhaps the cardinals do not remember that the reform of the regulations of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs issued 22 February 2012 (exactly two years before Pope Francis’ first consistory) already tasks this Vatican dicastery with financial programming similar to that of a Ministry of Finances.

The Institute for Religious Works (IOR), wrongly known as the “Vatican bank”, is always a target. It is thought that the IOR will be absorbed into the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), thus keeping its functions even if it is placed under another dicastery.

The backers of this idea are not taking into account, for instance, that APSA has been structured over the course of the years as a public authority, and that its diminishing banking activities are being phased out to strengthen its public authority profile.

On the other hand, those who had been served by the IOR understand its importance. Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop Emeritus of Chicago and considered one of Pope Francis’ ‘super electors’, noted in a recent press interview: «During my 12 years as General Vicar of my religious congregation, the Oblates of the Immaculate Mary, I found the IOR very useful. We used it to transfer money from the richer provinces to places with an inadequate banking system. As a lay tool of the Pope’s sovereignty, the Vatican should have at its disposal the required means to enjoy financial independence. The characteristics of this independence and its necessary limits to prevent that the bank becomes a commercial bank are still to be analyzed.»

The road ahead is long. At the end of the week, Pope Francis created 19 new cardinals, some of them completely unexpected.  The Pope had two main goals: break careerism, showing that there are no ‘class A’ or ‘class B’ dioceses; and at the same time show that he is paying attention to the world’s peripheries.

The cardinals selected last week took part in the extraordinary consistory on the family. Once again, the cardinals addressed the issue of holy communion for Catholics that remarry after a divorce.  Father Lombardi’s briefing made it clear that it was a very general exchange of views.

In the end, even the awaited reform on communion for divorcees who remarry seems to be less than what was expected, or what the public was made to believe it could be. Pope Francis’ revolution is mostly a reform of the attitudes, of pastoral approach. Now, the challenge is not to reduce every reform to a «change everything in order not to change anything.» This would be just marketing. And the Catholic Church is not a company which needs a new, improved image, despite what the many consulting companies recently hired by the Vatican may think. 

The next consistory (the official ceremony where the selection of new Cardinals is confirmed) will be a good test. The consistory will take place Feb. 22, while a meeting of the Council of Eight cardinals will be held on Feb. 17-18 and the Council of the Synod will meet on Feb. 24. Altogether, there will be about 15 days of consultations of cardinals, taking into account that a meeting of the council of cardinals for economic and managerial affairs of the Holy See (the so-called Council of Fifteen) will be held in February, the week before the meeting of the Council of Eight.

A Vatican official told Mondayvatican Oct. 30: «More than a consistory for the creation of new cardinals, I have the impression that this will be mostly a sort of synod of cardinals. It will represent a new way to offer advice, with cardinals from all over the world, giving everybody the opportunity to share their opinions. It will be something very similar to the CELAM assembly, which the cardinals in the group of eight have clearly said inspired their thinking about a reform of the synod of bishops.»

Cardinal Maradiaga is the coordinator of the group of eight cardinals, while Errazuiz Ossa is one of its most influential members. With more frequency in recent times, Maradiaga has expanded on his ideas about the Curia reform. He has also raised the reform of the IOR (the Institute for Religious Works, the so-called Vatican bank), although it is not part of the curia reform. He has shared with the media many details about what he thinks these reforms should entail.

That of the Congregation for the Laity is his most recent proposal, and some Canon law experts, as well as committed layman in the Catholic Church, have received the idea with skepticism.

In the Roman Curia, there are two different kinds of departments (a.k.a. dicasteries): the Congregations and the Pontifical Councils. While the Congregations have executive powers, the Pontifical Councils do not, and are more in the background. Broadly speaking, Congregations are part of the Church’s government, while the Pontifical Council are about the presence of the Church in the world.

A possible streamlining of the Curia has been widely discussed. It seems that Benedict XVI wanted to consolidate the responsibilities of different pontifical councils. This is the reason why one of his fist moves was to make the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue part of the Pontifical Council for Culture. At the same time, he left for some time the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and that for the Pontifical Council for Migrants under the same president.

Internal pressures and opposition, the need to find a balance between his men and the «system», and the Curia’s very strong old guard headed by the former Secretary of State Angelo Sodano (still very influential, also with the press) led Benedict XVI to renounce to redesigning the Curia.

Realizing that an overall reform would take too long, Benedict XVI opted for a different approach, one attracting less attention but even more challenging: to anchor everything strongly on Doctrine,  develop a solid juridical-legal framework, and to aim for a change in attitudes.

Benedict XVI implemented the reform of the criteria of admission to seminaries; the global reform of Vatican finances; the reform of the Penal Code, which has gone into effect under Pope Francis; the new constitution of Caritas Internationalis; the motu proprio about Catholic charities; and the reform of discipline in seminaries, which are now under the administration of the Congregation for the Clergy.

Pope Francis’ project seems to be of a different kind. More than consolidating pontifical councils and thus streamlining the «consultative» dicasteries, it seems that he aims at integrating the pontifical councils within the congregations, even by elevating some pontifical councils to the rank of congregation. It is rumored that the confirmation of the leadership of some Vatican dicasteries in their posts, until the expiration of their mandates, supports this hypothesis. This is the case, for example, with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which could become a Congregation encompassing the Pontifical Council for the Family, Migrants, and the Laity.

A Congregation for the Laity (which in Maradiaga’s vision would encompass the Pontifical Council for the Family, the Pontifical Academy for life, and the current Pontifical Council for the Laity) is a brand new proposal.

Commenting on it, an official of one of the dicasteries that would be interested in this possible reform told Mondyavatican that «this proposal would in fact ‘clericalize’ these dicasteries.»  A Congregation for the Laity, he adds, «would put issues relating to the family and the laity under one of the Roman Curia’s strongest type of structure. The members of congregations and pontifical councils are cardinals and bishops, rarely laymen. But giving the laity a congregation does not mean give laymen more importance within the ranks of the Church. More likely, it is about about putting the laity under one umbrella.»

The same official underscores that «lay people are very important within the ranks of dicasteries, where they oversee key portfolios and hold posts at the highest levels. Should there be a (political) will to expand the role of laymen, more of them should, above all, be made members of congregations and councils, and not just consultants in them.»

In fact, Pastor Bonus states that «the dicasteries are composed of the cardinal prefect or the presiding archbishop, a body of cardinals and of some bishops, assisted by a secretary, consultors, senior administrators, and a suitable number of officials»  (art. 3).  It also foresees that, «according to the specific nature of certain dicasteries, clerics and other faithful can be added to the body of cardinals and bishops.»

Pastor Bonus can obviously be changed. But there would also be a need to change Canon Law, which establishes that some posts are reserved for clergy only.

A brand new Pastoral Constitution to replace Pastor Bonus is in fact what the group of eight cardinals is thinking about. At the same time, Archbishop José Carballo, Secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, has spoken about the possibility of reforming Canon Law. Taking the floor Oct. 29 at a conference about vocational perseverance, and speaking about religious brothers and sisters abandoning consecrated life, Carballo asserted that «there seems to be a need for a specific path for each novice,»  and also «a novitiate longer than what is contemplated in Canon Law,» to allow for better discernment.

According to canon 648 of the Code of Canon Law, the novitiate must last from a minimum of 12 months to a maximum of 2 years.

A reform of the Code could be an option, because Canon Law «is not the Gospel, it is written by men,»  Carballo said. At that point, Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation, commented: «That is what Pope Francis told us.» In a conversation after his remarks, Carballo told the author of this blog that «a reform of Canon Law should not only be about the novitiate, it could also be more comprehensive.»

In fact, no reform of the Code of Canon Law is expected at this time. Perhaps in the more distance future. The new code of Canon Law was issued in 1981 after decades of work. It took 16 years to draft «Pastor Bonus»  – which was mostly a realigning of the Curia more than a revolution. The reform of the Synod of Bishops will also take some time, which is the reason why the minor adjustments of every synod are portrayed as exceptions – not changes – to the norm.

The general impression is that we are at the stage of general consultations, more or less open. The group of eight cardinals will meet Dec. 3-5, and it is possible that in February there will be a broader consultation of cardinals, maybe extending it to the members of the General Secretariat of the synod. Paul VI even thought about having the members of the General Secretary of the Synod participate in conclaves. He was dissuaded from doing so, Benny Lai reported, by Cardinal Giuseppe Siri, who thought that the members of the General Secretary of the Synod could be influenced by others. 

That of February may be a sort of mini informal council, partly corresponding to the notion of the permanent assembly that Pope Francis wishes for the Church. This sort of a reform of synodality, a concept close to the Pope’s heart.