Pope Francis attacks 'diseases' of Vatican in Curia address

Realizing the following article is written by far left leaning liberal press CNN (By Lucy Pawle and Susannah Cullinane), one will have to dig a bit deeper to get the real story I am sure. The last paragraph of the article unmasks the liberal bias against 'conservative' Cardinals as if this is whom the Holy Father is addressing his disgust exclusively towards.

(CNN) -- Pope Francis has unleashed a blistering critique of the Vatican bureaucracy -- or Curia -- criticizing its "illnesses" ranging from the "disease of feeling immortal" to vainglory and excessive planning.
In his annual Christmas address to the Curia at the Vatican Monday, the Pontiff warned that "a church that doesn't try to improve is like a sick body."
Francis said suggested that it would be helpful to the Vatican bureaucrats to have a catalog of their illnesses beginning with "this disease of feeling immortal or indispensable."
The "pathology of power," he said, could lead to people believing "they are superior to others and not here for the service to others."
Dear brothers let us be aware and guard against the terrorism of gossip.
Pope Francis
Francis warned against the disease of loss of compassion, which he said afflicted "those who have a heart of stone."
"Those who lose their inner serenity, their vivacity and audacity, to hide behind their papers, becoming like procedural machines rather than men of God. This is dangerous to lose human sensitivity, so necessary in order to cry with those who cry and enjoy with those who enjoy," the Pope said.
Pope Francis referred to the diseases of "excessive planning and functionalism" and of "bad coordination," which he said could occur when members did not collaborate with each other.There was also the risk of succumbing to spiritual Alzheimer's disease and "forgetting the story of salvation," he said, warning that sufferers "lost memory of their encounter with God."
The Pope described the diseases of rivalry and vainglory, and rebuked those who try to court their superiors "inspired by their own egotism."
The disease of gossip, Francis said, he had addressed before -- but insufficiently.
"This is a serious disease that begins simply when people chatter, and it takes over the person, turning the person as a Satan, and in so many cases people are speaking ill about their own colleagues and brothers and sisters. These people haven't got the courage to speak directly, and they speak about others behind their backs," he said. "Dear brothers, let us be aware and guard against the terrorism of gossip."
Pope Francis also appeared to speak to the child abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church, referring to it as the "disease of a closeness."
"This disease also begins from good intentions, but with the passing of time enslaves its members, becoming a cancer which threatens the harmony of the body and causes a lot of evil and scandal, especially towards our small brothers and sisters," Francis said.
Finally, Francis warned against the disease of the mundane -- "of the exhibitionism when the apostle transforms his service in power."
"This is a disease of people who seek tirelessly to multiply power only aimed at calumny, and to defame and discredit others," he said.
Pope Francis concluded: "Dear brothers, such diseases and such temptations are a naturally a danger for each Christian and for each Curia. For each community, for any ecclesiastical movement. They can damage both individually and the community. We have to say that only the Holy Spirit and the soul of Christ, only he can protect us from the disease.
"We have to cure ourselves of these. Let us try to grow together and close to Christ."
In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour that aired earlier this month, veteran Vatican watcher Marco Politi said Pope Francis had been encountering growing opposition within his own church.
This was mainly due to Francis' efforts at reform since becoming Pope in March 2013, Politi said.
"Within the Church, there is a tough group of conservative bishops and priests and cardinals, and also very traditionalist bishops and cardinals who are practically against the Pope, who are working against the Pope," he said. "They don't like what he wanted to do with the synod about family, to give new possibilities to remarried and divorced people to get the communion, or to have a new look on the homosexual union."

 

Pope Francis greets Curia for Christmas, and rips them to shreds
Posted on 22 December 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf
Each year it is customary for the Roman Pontiff to meet and greet members of the Roman Curia just before Christmas. The Pope gives an address. Often that address is a kind of “State of the Union”, describing things that occurred and prospect for the future. In 2005 Benedict XVI famously used the occasion to deliver one of the most important addresses of many modern pontificates. He spoke of the proper interpretive principles to apply to the Second Vatican Council.
Today Pope Francis also addressed the Curia. I just finished watching the video. It seemed to me, frankly, to be more like a Lenten retreat delivered to Jesuit novices than a Christmas greeting to seasoned churchman, his closest collaborators in his Petrine Ministry.
Francis went through a long list of sins during his prolonged examination of their consciences for them.
The list of the Curia’s spiritual sins? Here they are, as compressed by AP:
Pope Francis listed 15 “ailments” of the Vatican Curia during his annual Christmas greetings to the cardinals, bishops, and priests who run the central administration of the 1.2-billion strong Catholic Church. Here’s the list.
1) Feeling immortal, immune or indispensable. “A Curia that doesn’t criticize itself, that doesn’t update itself, that doesn’t seek to improve itself is a sick body.”
2) Working too hard. “Rest for those who have done their work is necessary, good and should be taken seriously.”
3) Becoming spiritually and mentally hardened. “It’s dangerous to lose that human sensibility that lets you cry with those who are crying, and celebrate those who are joyful.”
4) Planning too much. “Preparing things well is necessary, but don’t fall into the temptation of trying to close or direct the freedom of the Holy Spirit, which is bigger and more generous than any human plan.”
5) Working without coordination, like an orchestra that produces noise. “When the foot tells the hand, ‘I don’t need you’ or the hand tells the head, ‘I’m in charge.’”
6) Having ‘spiritual Alzheimer’s.’ “We see it in the people who have forgotten their encounter with the Lord … in those who depend completely on their here and now, on their passions, whims and manias, in those who build walls around themselves and become enslaved to the idols that they have built with their own hands.”
7) Being rivals or boastful. “When one’s appearance, the color of one’s vestments or honorific titles become the primary objective of life.”
8) Suffering from ‘existential schizophrenia.’ “It’s the sickness of those who live a double life, fruit of hypocrisy that is typical of mediocre and progressive spiritual emptiness that academic degrees cannot fill. It’s a sickness that often affects those who, abandoning pastoral service, limit themselves to bureaucratic work, losing contact with reality and concrete people.”
9) Committing the ‘terrorism of gossip.’ “It’s the sickness of cowardly people who, not having the courage to speak directly, talk behind people’s backs.”
10) Glorifying one’s bosses. “It’s the sickness of those who court their superiors, hoping for their benevolence. They are victims of careerism and opportunism, they honor people who aren’t God.”
11) Being indifferent to others. “When, out of jealousy or cunning, one finds joy in seeing another fall rather than helping him up and encouraging him.”
12) Having a ‘funereal face.’ “In reality, theatrical severity and sterile pessimism are often symptoms of fear and insecurity. The apostle must be polite, serene, enthusiastic and happy and transmit joy wherever he goes.”
13) Wanting more. “When the apostle tries to fill an existential emptiness in his heart by accumulating material goods, not because he needs them but because he’ll feel more secure.”
14) Forming ‘closed circles’ that seek to be stronger than the whole. “This sickness always starts with good intentions but as time goes by, it enslaves its members by becoming a cancer that threatens the harmony of the body and causes so much bad — scandals — especially to our younger brothers.”
15) Seeking worldly profit and showing off. “It’s the sickness of those who insatiably try to multiply their powers and to do so are capable of calumny, defamation and discrediting others, even in newspapers and magazines, naturally to show themselves as being more capable than others.”
Sort of, “Merry Christmas, you vain, hypocritical, funeral faces!”
Mind you, these are just the bullet points. Every point was explained, with citations, in the address of over 3100 words, which took about 32 minutes. There are 20 footnotes. HERE
The Holy Father then went around the room to greet all the Cardinals present.
Veteran Vatican watcher John Allen reported:
“I have to say, I didn’t feel great walking out of that room today,” one senior Vatican official said, who had been in the Vatican’s Sala Clementina for the speech and who spoke on the condition he not be identified.
“I understand that the pope wants us to live up to our ideals, but you wonder sometimes if he has anything positive to say about us at all,” the official said, who’s been in Vatican service for more than two decades.
For the record, this was an official who describes himself as an “enthusiast” over the direction being set by Pope Francis.
The body language on Monday among the cardinals and archbishops who make up the Vatican’s power structure suggest that reaction wasn’t isolated. There were few smiles as the pope spoke and only mild applause; since Francis delivered the address in Italian, it wasn’t because his audience didn’t understand.
Having watched the video, I too thought that the reception of the speech and, afterward, of the Pope himself as he went around the room, was muted and even tense.
One can only guess what fruits this examination of conscience will produce. Time will tell.
On the other hand, Pope Francis also met with the workers and collaborators of the Vatican City State and addressed them. HERE The meeting was held in the Paul VI audience hall. It had a decidedly different feeling, although he told them that he had just addressed the heads of the curial offices. He told all the workers to look at that text, to examine their consciences and to GO TO CONFESSION.
Francis used again the image of the Curia as a body that needs care, indeed, which is sick and needs remedies. He then gave them, too, a list of 10 things that he wanted them all to “take care of… curare”. Some of them were basic, and common sense items that lay people need to attend to. It was the sort of thing that one might hope to hear in a parish pulpit.
Then, at the end, he said (to the workers, not the curial heads):

Non voglio finire queste parole di augurio senza chiedervi perdono per le mancanze, mie e dei collaboratori, e anche per alcuni scandali, che fanno tanto male. Perdonatemi.
I don’t want to conclude these words of greeting without asking pardon of you for shortcomings, mine and those of my collaborators, and also for some scandals, which do great harm. Forgive me.​

 

We can only assume this is why Pope Benedict retired. Prophecy has warned us how bad it is in the highest offices.

 

This reminded me of a lovely spiritual novel I read many years ago , a story about an English Monsignor who worked as an official at the Vatican Department which declares people saints. The poor man had been diagnosed with cancer, which had caused him deep soul searching as he went to meet his maker. He realised what a cold mechanistic person he had become. A paper shuffler in fact . A cold heart, or rather uncommitted to the world around him. He understood he had never really been a priest as such , reaching out to the needs of ordinary people.

(In fact Pope Francis recently asked folks working at the Vatican to reach out pastorally to the world around them. To get their hands dirty if you like, the goodness knows from what I see the City of Rome needs it)

So anyway, the story went that the Cardinal in charge of the department , a wise and holy priest, seeing this guy's spiritual needs gave him one last job. It was to investigate a candidate for the priesthood an American soldier , an escaped prisoner of war, who had hidden in a remote Italian village during the Second World War when the Nazis had taken things over.

So this poor dying priest , with the heart of stone walks the path of the saint by visiting the village from when he arrives in the village to when he is murdered by Communist Partisans. He discovers this American soldier has had some kind of wonderful conversion experience which led him to high holiness in a very short time indeed. However by embracing Christ he arises a whole crowd of enemies in the village and this eventually leads to his murder.

By following the dead saint the dying priest has his on heart melted by love and is converted to getting his own hands dirty.

One thing I recall it being mentioned at the end of the book was that the Vatican Monsignor realised that the dead American soldier could never be recognised by the Vatican for numerous reasons. he was too unconventional a saint and too many skeletons would be raised in the Italian political closet would be shaken if his his murder was brought into view.

I think in many ways this is the story of what is doing in all our souls. Melting out hearts of stones and giving us a good shake up.

I must see if I can find the name of the novel.

 

No I cannot find it. But I think I have found something even better. The true story of a priest who really did get his hands dirty. I must take this as my next book to read. It would make a GREAT film

View attachment 2493

 

Wow! What courage! He's being very faithful to his office - a very good shepherd.

 

Do you mean by not abdicating yet? which he has hinted at.

 

Francis went through a long list of sins during his prolonged examination of their consciences for them.

Perhaps the Pope has begun to prepare the Church for the Warning?

Judgement begins with the house of God.

 

dear God, I have chills....

 

Wow - the trailer gave me goosebumps and they are multiplying!!

The saints are just sinners who realise that God is capable of transforming their lives to the fullest degree and potential because they have a vision of what God can do through the dynamics of grace.

So often we hem God in because we refuse to see over the boundaries of the hedges we create for ourselves.

I am coming to realise that we need to plead for grace to have a vision of what God can do for us.

Let us not be content with mediocrity for our God is an awesome God!

 

I know thus was focused on the Curia, but I think meant for all of us.

 

Francis kinda gave it to them like Jesus gave it to the Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees.

 

Yeah!!!

All 12 barrells

 

I think the Holy Father meant this for the curia rather than a general exhortation. He is very angry with them and laid it down on the line.

it makes me sad in one way; happy in another that he convicts them of sin.

I never thought it a good idea that folks got done up in fancy dress of scarlet and purple, drove about in limousines and lived in palaces . Safer to be sleeping in the street in a doorway.

 

What a Christmas gift! What holy boldness!

 

Correction: all 15 barrels

 

we have been given the gift of Francis in these incredible times....God's plans are AMAZING

 

Proverbs 27:5
Better is open rebuke Than love that is concealed.

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/inquiries-and-interviews/detail/articolo/lajolo-38226/

 

It has been my experience that people in general do not take criticism very well. In fact it often cracks people up. The prouder and with the higher opinion they have of themselves then the less well take a, 'Word to the wise'. In this case the people he was speaking to whilst very,very smart indeed are very,very far from wise. In fact it was Christ' criticismof the Pharisees and Sadducees that led them to have Him nailed on a Cross. Not only by the words that Jesus used but by His way of life.

Taking the Holy Father at his word, he is dealing with some very, very puffed up and self important men indeed. Pope Francis has clearly been criticising them not only by words but by his whole manner of life.

There has to be a kick back for this. Not only a kick back but a very,very severe one. We should pray for the Holy Father. He is very brave to have done this . But there is nothing so dangerous as a guy with time on his hands and an ill to mull over. There is a whole big bunch of very powerful and smart guys in the curia with loads of time on their hands and a whole big bunch of ills to mull over. There is no doubt at all they are going to come out shooting.

This is far from the end of the matter but ,as Catholic Prophecy would indicate just the very beginning. So we should certainly pray very,very hard for the Holy Father and the Church.

I see now why I was so uncomfortable in Rome a couple of weeks ago. The devil has been up to his old tricks again. Lots and lots of them.

Matthew 10:34

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

 

http://twoheartspress.com/blog/prophecy-of-schism-and-the-papacy/

A Great (Spiritual) Battle Has Begun… Prophecy of Schism and the Papacy
Posted on August 12, 2013 by twohearts
Messages of Our Lady Queen of Peace in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity
to Pedro Regis
www.PedroRegis.com

Pedro Regis from Brazil has been reportedly receiving messages from Heaven since 1987. His bishop has given an initial positive statement (see here). Many miracles have occurred in his ministry and several of his prophecies have been fulfilled. As always, discretion and discernment is needed.

This article organizes some excerpts from his messages speaking of the schism in the Church and troubles of the papacy, beginning with the most recent:

“Dear children, the Church of my Jesus will carry a heavy cross and the way to Calvary will be sorrowful. Men and women of faith will be judged and condemned. Screams for help will be heard, and a successor of Peter will drink of the bitter chalice of suffering. Pray. Do not separate yourselves from prayer. After all the persecution, the Lord will take away from the Church all the smoke of the devil and there will be a time of peace. I suffer because of what is coming for you. Do not be discouraged. Do not stray from the path of truth. Whoever walks with the Lord will never experience the weight of defeat. Go forward.” (August 21, 2013)

“Pray also, and above all, for the Church. A time of joy and sorrow is coming for the Church. The smoke of the Devil will arise in the house of God, but the light of the Lord will prevail. Courage.” (July 29, 2013)

“Dear children, the day is coming when many will repent of the life they have lived without God, but for many it will be too late. God calls you. Do not separate yourselves from Him. He will give men a great chance. A special grace of the Lord will allow all those who live without the grace of God to see their errors and their sins. That will be the great sign (the Great Warning) from God to men… Trust in Jesus. He is your All, and only in Him can you find full joy.” (July 25, 2013)

“In the great finalbattle, the angels of the Lord will be among you and will take you by a safe path. Courage.” (July 13, 2013)

+++ (Click below to read more excerpts from these messages.)


“Dear children, the lack of love for the truth will lead many of the consecrated to the abyss of apostasy. The Calvary of the Church will be painful.” (July 9, 2013)

“Now is the time of a great battle. The weapons I offer you are: the Holy Rosary, the Holy Scripture, confession and the Eucharist… Jesus will give you the grace of victory… in the great and final tribulation.” (July 8, 2013)

“Dear children, the disrespect for the sacraments on the part of many of the consecrated will lead the Church to Calvary. Many treasures of the Church will be thrown away and many people will lose their faith.” (June 25, 2013)

“The future of the Church will be marked with a great division and a sad religious dictatorship.” (June 24, 2013)

“Peter will encounter Judas in his way. Boulder on top of boulder. I ask you to intensify your prayers for the Church of my Jesus. The smoke of the devil has infiltrated the Church and blinded many of the consecrated… Have courage. Remain in the truth and defend it. After all the spiritual tribulation, victory will come. Go forward without fear.” (June 22, 2013)

“The war between brothers (religious war) will be painful and many will lose their faith… Now is a difficult time for men and women of faith.” (June 16, 2013)

“At this time, intensify your prayers for the Church. The devil will yet cause great damages in the lives of many consecrated people. You will yet see horrors. Whatever happens, do not permit the flame of faith to be extinguished within you. Courage.” (June 15, 2013)

“A successor of Peter is going to prepare the Church for the great victory. The Church will live moments of pain. It will be persecuted and many of the consecrated will suffer death. The Church will be purified by the suffering. The smoke of the devil has spread within it, causing the spiritual blindness of many of the consecrated.” (June 11, 2013)

“The Church of my Jesus will carry a heavy cross. Betrayal will touch the throne of Peter. The Holy Father will experience calvary. Pray, pray, pray.” (June 9, 2013)

“Before Jesus, pray for the Church. Pray for Pope Francis. The Church is going toward a sorrowful future. Decisions will antagonize many, and the way of Calvary will be sorrowful.” (June 8, 2013)

“A decision will be made and there will be great confusion in the palace (the Vatican). I am your Sorrowful Mother and I suffer because of what is coming for you. Remain firm in the faith. Stay with Jesus. Love and defend the Church. Whatever happens, do not forget: God above all. You still have long years of difficult trials. Courage.” (June 4, 2013)

“You are living in the time of a great spiritual battle. The Eucharist, the Rosary, the Holy Scripture, and Confession are the weapons which I offer you for this great battle.” (May 13, 2013)

“The future will be marked by divisions and scandals in the Church of my Jesus. The just will be persecuted and shoved aside, but the Lord will come to help His own. Pray. Only through the power of prayer can you withstand the weight of the trials that are coming. Courage.” (May 4, 2013)

“Treachery will touch the throne of Peter and the pain will be great for men and women of faith.” (April 14, 2013)

“The future will be marked by a serious conflict between the true Church and the false one. The Church of my Jesus will carry a heavy cross, suffering as it has never experienced before.” (March 23, 2013)

More from recent messages:

3.790 – March 16, 2013

Dear children, St. Peter will direct his barque amidst great tempests.