On July 1-4, another meeting of the Council of Cardinals appointed by Pope Francis to counsel him on the Curia reform and on the government of the universal Church will take place. It is an important meeting, since it would reportedly set for the first time the new ‘blueprint’ of the Roma [...]
It was almost taken for granted that a reform of the Roman Curia, and in particular of the Secretariat of State, was going to take place. The General Congregations (i.e. the pre-conclave meeting) seemed to believe that the bad organization of the Curia was at the root of the poor management of the [...]
That the common good is at the center of the Holy See international agenda has been proven once again. This time, in the book «La diplomazia pontificia in un mondo globalizzato» (Pontifical Diplomacy in a Globalized World), a selection of the diplomatic interventions of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone during his seven years as Secretary of [...]
Pietro Parolin was discharged from the hospital and should arrive in Rome after a short convalescing period at home. This is the first piece of news released about the new Secretary of State’s health. Parolin could not take part in the ceremony by which he formally assumed his new position because he needed [...]
Next Oct. 15 the awaited change at the top of the Vatican Secretariat of State will take place. Tarcisio Bertone will leave his post to Pietro Parolin, who had been Bertone’s number four until 2009. That year, Parolin was promoted archbishop and sent as Papal nuncio to Venezuela.
The change is awaited for two reasons.
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Pope Francis said it during the trip back from Brazil: «I feel a nostalgia for the Curia of the old days.» With every major appointment, it is becoming more clear who is that Pope Francis is referring to, when he mentions the old days’ Curia. There are no groundbreaking appointments. Pope [...]
The confirmation of Gehrard Ludwig Mueller as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith can lead to the conclusion that Pope Francis is following the paths traced by Benedict XVI. But appearances can be deceiving. Pope Francis is putting the Church in a completely different path. If Benedict XVI was [...]
Pope Francis has started to form his team. And he has done so from the very top. As Secretary of State, Pope Francis has decided to appoint Pietro Parolin, an Italian hailing from Veneto and born in 1955, who until now was Papal Nuncio in Venezuela. He is an experienced diplomat whose career [...]
When he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, almost all the priests he proposed to be appointed bishop were rejected. According to sources, almost every list of candidates that Bergoglio would propose (three names, per the Holy See’s standard practice) for an open see for bishop would be overlooked. Instead, the appointments came from the [...]
It seems certain that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone will remain Secretary of State until April 27. That is the day when new papal nuncio Ettore Balestrero – previously Undersecretary for Relations with States, heading to the important nunciature of Colombia– will be ordained bishops. In the past, the Pope himself would conduct these ordinations [...]