Pope Francis is beyond that mentality and that kind of webs. Instinctive, spontaneous (he told journalists on the way back from the Holy Land that «the best gestures are those that come out from spontaneity»); Pope Francis wants an “Outward-Looking Church”, and barely cares about what had been there before, because – he writes in the “Evangelii Gaudium” – «one cannot hide behind ‘it has always been done this way’». The Pope admitted not to have any specific plan for the Church and he is now applying to the Church the one and only objective that he always deemed pivotal, dating back to the time he was a provincial of the Jesuits: that the Church be missionary, and for her to earn a clean image that can make her mission appealing.

The Pope’s work is difficult within a Roman Curia that has always resisted new outlooks. The Holy See has always been conscious that the relationship with Italy could have more shadows than lights. When the Holy See and Italy finally signed the Conciliation in 1929, the Holy See decided not to accept any ambassador to the Holy See who at the same time was an ambassador accredited to Italy (and resident in Italy). This was a result of the memories of the First World War: the moment when Italy declared war to Germany, the German ambassador to Italy naturally left, and the Holy See remained without a diplomatic link to Germany.

The progressive internationalization of the Roman Curia was started by a Pope who had been serving as a diplomat and was very conscious of the importance of the Church’s sovereignty. Pius XII had been Papal nuncio to Germany, where he was able to carry out and sign a concordat with the Nazi country (as such agreements are meant to be reached with people you do not trust, rather than friends). As a Pope, he progressively increased the number of non-Italian cardinals. In the last years of his pontificate, tired, already old and knowing that he could not govern with the proper strength, Pius XII froze Vatican hiring, leaving everything in his successor’s hands.

His successor was John XXIII, another former nuncio, who had lived his glory days in Bulgaria and Turkey before being appointed Papal nuncio to France during the years of the Second World War. John XXIII experienced in the East the richness of the ecumenical dialogue and in Europe the ferment of the Catholic movements that, since the beginning of the 20th century, were spreading to politics, society and even industries, seeking a renewal of the Christian experience that he promoted with the Second Vatican Council. John XXIII finally opened the Church to the world, and positioned it in the international context not only as a moral authority, but also as a ‘super partes’ State able to promote peace negotiations.

After him, Paul VI was elected. He had been the spiritual assistant for the University Federation of Italian Catholics (FUCI) and thus personally knew all the Italian Catholic men in politics. Like Pius XII, Paul VI paid close attention to what was happening in Italy. Like Pius XII, Paul VI wanted the Italian privileged relationship model to be projected beyond the National border – the Italian privileged relationship understood not as that of groups of interests that acted here and there around the Vatican borders, but one that had resulted in the fact that Italy was an exception in how it had successfully resisted the pressure of secularizing trends.

After the very short pontificate of John Paul I, John Paul II followed. The scenario definitely changed. John Paul II wanted a Church with a strong presence in society, able to be the lifeblood of society. It was not just opening a dialogue with the world. It was rather being relevant in the world, and taking the leading role for human renewal, as the Church in Poland had done there. The ‘earthquake’ that followed this vision marked a change of the roadmap for the presence of laity in public life in Italy.

Committed to the institutions they had themselves inspired (the Italian Constitution is based on the Camaldoli Code, drafted by a group from the FUCI in 1944), Catholics in politics in Italy maintained a very timid dialogue with the institutions they were part of. John Paul II asked for more relevance, and the Pope’s appeal was welcomed by the ecclesiastical movements, the true novelty of the Second Vatican Council.

The most famous and widespread movements (the Focolari Movement, Communion and Liberation) were born in Italy, and there they established a base for Catholics committed to society. These movements took over the organization of the new presence of Catholics in public life. They led the debates which had been at the core of the Italian public discourse until now.

In particular, Communion and Liberation took over the role of enhancing the presence of Catholics in the country and to serve as a cultural guide, bringing forward debates of magnitude on issues like religious freedom, bioethics, and subsidiarity.

Nowadays, a different roadmap seems more appropriate. An internal dialogue within Communion and Liberation itself points in this direction. Julian Carrón, the successor of CL’s founder Father Luigi Giussani, stressed in a document ahead of elections to the European parliament that there is a need to return to the essentials, the announcement of the Gospel, before forming groups of positive pressure. In the document, Carrón drew heavily from Benedict XVI, and carried on the discussion referring to Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium.

Carrón’s words dwelled into the spirit of Father Giussani. Promoter of a Christianity imbuing every aspect of life, Father Giussani periodically reminded his followers not to make of «structure, organization, principles» more than of the main goal of being Christian, the announcement of the Gospel. This is the reason why Father Giussani never gave CL the contours of an association. And this is the reason why he chose Julian Carrón as his successor. Carrón is a Spaniard who formed a movement before knowing Communion and Liberation. Once he met Father Giussani, Carrón joined CL with his movement. The same path had been followed by the founders of the Brazilian movement Trabalhadores sem Tierra, who are now responsible for CL in Brazil.

The movement’s outward-looking strategy was also manifested in the choice for president of the Compagnia delle Opere (CDO), the CL’s economic-financial branch. Lawmakers linked to CDO have recently been involved in several business scandals in Italy, since they are tied hand in glove to a certain financial-political milieu. The president is now Bernhard Scholz, a German who is completely out of this kind of logic, who is moving the CDO to a brand new world, outside of the Italian mind-frame.

Carrón’s words triggered a profound self-reflection within Communion and Liberation. There were those, like the philosopher Massimo Borghesi, who noted that many cultural struggles had become more an expression of a sort of Christian lobby than part of the evangelization. And those who, like the journalist Antonio Socci –who took part with conviction in those battles – underlined the importance of that way of taking part in the public discourse. Even standing in opposition or making alliances with the secular world without the intention of evangelizing it.

This discussion certainly goes beyond Communion and Liberation and – on a smaller scale – is replicated in the Catholic Church.

After John Paul II, Benedict XVI carried on this outward-looking strategy. He spoke of a «non moralist Church » and of the primacy of evangelization in several occasions, the most bold ones were the off-the-cuff speech to Swiss bishops in 2006 and the speech held in Freiburg during his 2011 trip to Germany. Benedict XVI placed the roots of faith in truth, speaking about God and freeing the Church of any kind of political constraints; and he gave the Holy See an international mentality, also on a juridical level on which every structure is based: the reform of Vatican finances, the reform of the Vatican penal code, the way of managing diplomacy, are part of Benedict XVI’s legacy.

And Benedict XVI was constantly under attack because he was not bound to the old logic. John Paul II’s huge effort decreased in the last years, when he was sick and tired. Then, the curiali, led by the then Secretary of State Angelo Sodano, made new ties with the Italian world, backed by a certain type of provincial thinking, benefitting from John Paul II’s popularity. In the last period of John Paul II’s pontificate, the Church had become the reign of the curia’s “pope-chaps” rather than a fountain of cultural dialogue.

The members of the Curia of the old days pushed for a new image of the Papacy in the last conclave. A more popular papacy, in order to mitigate the damage to that image, that they themselves had infringed during Benedict XVI’s pontificate. Pope Francis met their needs. An outward-looking Pope, that would allow the Curia to be rebuilt according to the old schemes. And Pope Francis ultimately appointed the men of the Curia of the old days to many key posts, and praised the “old Curiale”.

At the same time, Pope Francis does not love the old ‘Italian fix’, and perhaps his future choices will be a surprise for those who were hoping a return of the old days. Putting aside any diplomatic reverence, Pope Francis instinctively goes beyond the old schemes of the Curia. Although the informal Papacy may present some limits, it is also true that Pope Francis may also contribute to strengthen the international profile of the Catholic Church. He designed the profile of the outward-looking Church. How it may be shaped for what concerns its governance is yet to be determined. The Pope will need very good consultants. One of them, a hidden one, may be Benedict XVI. Looking at the discussion about reforms and listening to rumors on his next moves, it is conceivable that Pope Francis’ next choices will be to further the goal of giving the Church an ever more international character.

Even Scola wants to be archbishop of Milan. It is not just a sort of vindication for the Patriarch of Venice, since he comes from Milan but he was not ordained priest in his home-diocese. Cardinal Giovanni Colombo, archbishop of Milan at the time, had strong reservations about Communion and Liberation, the ecclesial movement whose Scola was a strong activist, and so Scola was ordained priest in the diocese of Termoli. From there, he had begun an ascent who brought him, from being number 2 of  Fr. Luigi Giussani, founder of Communion and Liberation, to a free-thinker activist within Communion and Liberation itself, until his appointment as Patriarch of Venice. In Venice, Scola did not typify himself as a man of Communion and Liberation. He founded a «Studium generale» there named after Saint Mark, the patron of the city, which covers all of the stages of learning, from childhood to university, with students from many countries, with courses in various disciplines and theology embracing them all, and with its own publishing house. He then created a magazine and an international cultural center named «Oasis», as a bridge to the East, from Eastern Europe and Northern Africa all the way to Pakistan, in multiple languages including Arabic and Urdu, with marked attention to Islam and Christianity in those countries, with periodic conferences between bishops and Christian and Muslim experts.

In Milan, Scola will have two tasks: the first one is to keep culturally active and at the same time anchored to orthodoxy the diocese of Milan; the second one will be to chair the board of administration of Istituto Toniolo, the “strongbox” of Catholic University and of other 13 universities inspired to Catholicism, schools and hospitals. But his main task will probably be another one: to open – and hopefully to close – the beatification process of Fr. Luigi Giusanni. It is very important for Benedict XVI – who celebrated Fr. Giussani funeral as pontifical delegate – that the beatification process would be brought on in the best way possible. Scola is the right man to do it.

Behind the shadows of the dome of Milan, a larger game has been played. It was a sort of «chess» played by large sectors of the Curia, with the goal to occupy every single space of power. There is the strong impression that it is now the time of a crucial transition for Vatican balances. After this transition, nothing will be the same.

Two of the main characters of the last part of John Paul II pontificate, cardinals Angelo Sodano and Camillo Ruini, retired some time ago and will not be able to take part to the next conclave since they are older than 80. Yet, both of them have still their importance and influence in the Sacred Palaces. Sodano, former secretary of State, had a brief interregnum before he had to give up his charge – Bertone was nominated in June 2006, but he took possession of his new charge in September. Then, Sodano extended the interregnum by not leaving his office until his new office of Dean of the College of Cardinals had not been completed. In his new office, he still meets his faithful friends, prelates that together with him and thanks to him made career in the Vatican diplomacy. Mons. Gabriele Caccia and Mons. Pietro Parolin often go and visit him when they are in Rome – they are now appointed as nuntii in Lebanon and Venezuela. Mons. Parolin suddenly jumped forward in the rose of candidates to be archbishop of Milan, and there is now the possibility that he will then appointed as successor of card. Scola as Patriarch in Venice.

Even card. Leonardo Sandri often meets card. Sodano. Sandri is the prefect of the Congretation for the Oriental Churches, and owes his career to Sodano. This latter appointed him as Apostolic Nuntio in Mexico, in order to face the mounting denounces to Legionaries of Christ – Sodano was very linked to the Congregation founded by Marcial Maciel. Then, Sandri became Substitute in the Secretary of State, and then he had the charge of Prefect of the Oriental Churches, a very important one.

Card. Ruini is now president of the scientific committee of Ratzinger Foundation, but he is also president of Progetto Culturale, the organization that manages the money for the Culture of the Italian Episcopal Conference. Even the founding for Istituto Toniolo pass through the Progetto Culturale.

And the Istituto Toniolo has been – and is – the key issue. The Istituto is controlled by Ruini fellowships after a cocaine scandal that brought the previous board to resign, and has constantly been under attack during the last year. Dino Boffo, former director of Avvenire (the news daily owned from the Italian Episcopal Conference) was obliged to resign after being put under attack from Il Giornale (the news daily owned by Berlusconi’s brother).   This was the full-page headline in the August 28, 2009  issue of Il Giornale: “Sexual incident of ‘Avvenire’ director. The supermoralist charged with harassment. Dino Boffo, at the helm of the newspaper of the Italian bishops and involved in the fiery press campaign against the transgressions of the prime minister, intimidated the wife of the man with whom he had a relationship”. The article based on an anonymous flier. The same flier that had been passed from hand to hand in the rooms of the Toniolo since 2005. The flier had the same peculiarities of the informative footnotes written by Carabinieris of the Borgo quarter in Rome (where the Vatican is sited) and usually passed to Secretariat of State for «good neighborhood relationships»

Nowadays, it’s Bertone that is running for the Istituto Toniolo, anxious to have fellowships within the strongbox of Catholic culture. Bertone is backing as new president of the Board of the Administration Gian Maria Flick, former Italian minister for the Justice.

The name of Flick resounds of the third empire that is now firing for the last times. Card. Achille Silvestrini had been a powerful and admired member of the Roman Curia. His career has nevertheless drowned, even after the publication of Via col Vento in Vaticano, a poisoned-pamphlet written with the task to attack the Silvestrini-Casaroli cartel in the State Secretariat. Yet his opinion seems to be important again. Gian Maria Flick would be – according to rumors – part of the Silvestrini-cartel. He was one of the lawyer of the trial that abolished the crime of slavery, and consequently the crime of plague. There were several law proposal in Italy to reintroduce at least the crime of psychological plague, but none of that succeeded.

The appointment for the new archbishop of Milan and the struggle for the new board of Istituto Toniolo were just the pretext for a sort of  game for the power that seems to be a struggle to survive, since the cartels are going to fall. Even the links with the external world of the Vatican are at risk. Gianni Letta, the shadow of Silvio Berlusconi, Gentleman of His Holiness, the man who links Italian State and Church, is now under attack. There were at least three judicial inquiries that stroke him and his men: one against him, the other one against Guido Bertolaso that brought to Propaganda Fide scandal, the last one against Luigi Bisignani, exponent of the masonry well known in the «good society». Cesare Geronzi, the banker that sponsored the 2005 World Youth Day, is now out of scene. Giulio Tremonti – Italian Minister for the Economy, appreciated by Benedict XVI and close to the ecclesiastical environments, that his aiming to be Prime Minister – risks to be marginalized. In the mean time, the last true exponent of the finance inspired on Catholic values, Antonio Fazio, has been subjected to a controversial first appearance sentence.

This is the temperature of the Roman Curia. A Curia too appeased on Italian issues, sometimes – but there is a Vatican diplomacy who is alive and not taken in account by medias – with no awareness of the universal mission of the Church. After these last fires, everything will change. Now Marc Ouellet – a Canadian – is the Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, and this fact is emblematic: the new Episcopal appointments will be done with a different point of view from the Italian one, even if they concern Italy. The Joseph Ratzinger’s Papacy was not a transition papacy. It is the quiet transition to a revolution.