“Pope Francis’ Reform Plans Encounter Opposition,” RP Online (Germany) reports, citing Vaticanologist Albert Link. The occasion was the appearance Monday of the book by Link, Buonanotte und Buonasera. Zwei Päpste im Vatikan (“Good Night and Good Evening. Two Popes in the Vatican”).
Many in the Vatican miss Pope Benedict XVI as a “fatherly employer” and feel angst about the future. Even though there is “fundamental sympathy” for Francis, opposition to his reform plans are perceptible at all levels in the Vatican, Link said.
“The lower-level workers have the impression that, through the bringing in of the management consultant McKinsey, rumors of a reduction in size of the curia, and elimination of their retirement provisions, an example is to be set of a church of the poor.”
Higher level officials have gathered, from Francis’ appearances so far, that he is serious about a transformation. “He himself is driven through Rome in a used car, and he has pretty much forbidden big cars to everyone else in the Vatican. He clearly has cardinals and bishops in mind,” Link said.
In the political realm, Francis appears as an actor in his own right and not just the “representative of diplomatic political activity happening in secret.” Link referred to his prayer for peace in the Vatican with Israeli President Peres and Palestinian President Abbas, and his desire to fly to conflict-ridden Iraq himself. “These are all new sounds that indicate that he will present himself more politically than Benedict XVI, and even than John Paul II,” Link said.
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