CARDINAL PELL CHOSEN BY POPE AS SENIOR CHURCHMAN - AUSTRALIA

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
15 Apr 2013

Cadinals meeting prior to the Conclave

Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell is one of eight senior churchmen appointed by Pope Francis to review the Roman Curia, the governing body of the Catholic Church.

The Curia has often been held responsible for Vatican mishaps and scandals prior to the conclave that elected Pope Francis last month.

Cardinal Pell said yesterday before leaving for Rome on a pre-arranged visit, that he was looking forward to whatever contribution he could make but agreed he was sure the Holy Father will be working towards "a better discipline".

"There has been a spot of bother as we know in the Vatican, with the butler leaking the papers and other allegations," he said.

"Most of the people working in the Curia are very, very fine people, but there were one or two mishaps.

"I am sure people would want and expect that we should do better."

Cardinal George Pell in Rome

Further problems in the Curia came to light when sensitive documents were stolen from Pope Benedict's desk and leaked by the butler which became known as the "Vatileaks". The butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested and sentenced by a Vatican court to 18 months in prison last year but Benedict pardoned him and he was freed just prior to Christmas. It has been reported widely that Benedict left a secret report for the new Pope on the problems of the administration.

Governance and Curia procedures are reported to have been widely discussed during the pre-conclave meetings and a statement from the Vatican on the weekend said Pope Francis got the idea of this committee to form an advisory body from those meetings.

The six other cardinals and a monsignor on the new committee who will join Cardinal Pell come from Italy, Chile, Germany, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United States and Honduras.

The make-up of the committee is a very clear indication that Pope Francis wants to reflect the universal nature of the church in its core decision-making.

The Curia has been historically weighted towards Italian prelates . Following the election of the first non-European pope for 1300 years, this new advisory committee certainly brings radical change to the Curia.

"I think it is a good thing to have some English-speaking members," Cardinal Pell said.

The official statement on the new advisory committee from the Vatican said; "Pope Francis has formed a group of cardinals to advise him on the governing of the universal church and to study a revision of the apostolic constitution Pastor Bonus on the Roman Curia ."

Pope Francis's decision to appoint a new advisory group to review the Roma Curia has been
widely accepted

Pope John Paul 11 issued Pastor Bonus in 1988 and it has effectively functioned as the blueprint for the administration of the Holy See and the Vatican City State. This work and jurisdictions of the congregations, pontifical councils and other offices that make up the governance of the Catholic Church was carried out by the Roman Curia. Pastor Bonus was itself a revision of the 1967 document that marked the last major reform of the Vatican bureaucracy undertaken by Pope Paul V1.

Although it is expected there will be discussions beforehand the new advisory group will not all meet until the first week of October.

Cardinal Pell will still be based in Sydney and Archbishop of Sydney.

SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY