Pope hears officials' input on reforming Vatican bureaucracy
11 Sept.2013: Pope Francis met with Vatican officials on Tuesday (Sept.10) to hear
their questions and suggestions about his ongoing reform of the Vatican bureaucracy.
Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, said the meeting lasted nearly
three hours and, except for a brief greeting by the pope, was devoted to remarks by
the other participants. About 30 people attended, almost all of them heads of the
major Vatican offices, joined by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the commission
governing Vatican City State, and Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar general of Rome.
Also present was Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary of the College of Cardinals.
Father Lombardi declined to comment on the content of the discussions but described
the meeting as an opportunity for the pope to hear the "considerations and advice"
of his closest collaborators in Rome, as part of the reform process recommended by
the cardinals who elected Pope Francis. That reform process "will soon have another
important moment with the reunion of the Group of Eight cardinals" Oct. 1-3, Father
Lombardi noted. Pope Francis established the so-called G-8, which includes Boston
Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley and Sydney Cardinal George Pell, in April, giving it a mandate
to advise him in the "government of the universal church" and his reform of the Roman
Curia, the church's central administration at the Vatican. Pope Francis has said
that the cardinals who elected him called for the pope to consult more with other
bishops on matters of governance, including reform of Vatican finances. The pope has
also acknowledged the indications of corruption and mismanagement documented in the
"VatiLeaks" of confidential correspondence in 2012. Source: CNS