Pope Francis on Saturday published a new “constitution” governing the functioning of the government of the Catholic Church, which in particular introduces more financial transparency, a promise made before his election in 2013.
The dicasteries (ministries) of the Roman Curia (Vatican government), operating for decades with opaque funding in a vacuum, were initially very reluctant to accept more centralized management, now written in black and white in the constitution.
Entitled “Praedicate Evangelium” (Preach the Gospel), it replaces an earlier text promulgated by Polish Pope John Paul II in 1988.
It incorporates many reforms already decided by the Argentinian Francis during his nine-year pontificate.
Among these upheavals, the possibility for lay people and Catholic women to lead sections of Vatican governance, as well as the integration within the Curia of a papal advisory commission on clergy sexual abuse.
evangelism
It also introduces novelties. The 54-page text, which will come into effect on June 5, thus makes increasing the ranks of the 1.3 billion Catholics in the world a priority for the Church. In fact, it creates a “dicastery” devoted to evangelization which will be led by Pope Francis himself.
In an unprecedented step, the 85-year-old pontiff had immediately formed a group of cardinals to advise him on how to reform the secular institution of the Curia.
Appointing yourself “chief evangelist” embodies a “tectonic shift towards a more pastoral and missionary church,” David Gibson, director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University, analyzes on his Twitter account.
Francis affirms that every baptized Christian is a missionary. “We cannot ignore it in the updating of the constitution of the Curia, the reform of which must provide for the participation of lay people, men and women, even in roles of government and responsibility”, underlines this expert .
The constitution, issued on the ninth anniversary of the inauguration of Francis’ pontificate, also makes the czar of the pope’s charities that listen to the poor, Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the head of a separate ministry whole.
Fight against sexual assault
The Vatican Commission for the Protection of Minors — hitherto a dormant advisory body to the pope — will be integrated into the ministry that oversees canonical investigations (Vatican justice) into cases of sexual abuse committed by clergy. That is to say that of the Doctrine of the Faith (former Inquisition), one of the 16 dicasteries now included in the new constitution.
In doing so, the pope “effectively establishes the first office of protection (against abuse) in the Vatican,” notes Christopher Lamb, a journalist with the British Catholic newspaper The Tablet.
Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who heads the Commission, said it was a “significant step forward” at the institutional level, which will strengthen the fight against a scourge that has hit the Church in the world.
But Marie Collins — an Irish survivor of clerical abuse who sat on the Commission before resigning with a bang in 2017 citing curbs within the Curia — instead slammed the novelty as a stark setback. “The Commission has now officially lost all semblance of independence,” she blasted on her Twitter account.