However, a read of the full text of the address provides a far better understanding of Pope Francis’ intent. He made sensible and appropriate remarks: “It is good to think of the Roman Curia as a small model of the Church, namely, as a ‘body’ that seeks seriously and daily to be more alive, healthier, more harmonious and more united in itself and with Christ.”
“In reality, the Roman Curia is a complex body, made up of many Dicasteries, Councils, Offices, Tribunals, Commissions and of numerous elements that do not all have the same task, but are coordinated for efficient, edifying, disciplined and exemplary functioning, despite the cultural, linguistic and national differences of its members. In any case, the Curia being a dynamic body, it cannot live without being nourished and without taking care of itself.”
What’s notable about the Pope’s remarks and his ‘catalogue’ of 15 illnesses (“sicknesses and temptations weakening our service to the Lord”) is that he made it clear we all suffer the same. He said, “…these sicknesses and these temptations are, naturally, a danger for every Christian and for every Curia, community, Congregation, parish, Ecclesial Movement, etc. and they can strike at the individual as much as at the communal level.”
His target audience was not just the priest/bureaucrats of the Curia who – being bureaucrats – can let the religious side of their duties and responsibilities slip. In my opinion, this slippage should not be surprising since those in charge of “keeping the train on the tracks” can forget, at least temporarily, the conductor who is Jesus Christ.
Pope Francis warned of the sickness of: (1) feeling oneself “immortal,” “immune” or in fact “indispensable;” (2) “Martha-ism” (which stems from Martha) of excessive busyness; (3) mental and spiritual “petrification;” (4) excessive planning and functionalism; (5) bad coordination; (6) spiritual Alzheimer’s disease; (7) rivalry and vainglory; (8) existential schizophrenia; (9) gossip, of grumbling, and of tittle-tattle; (10) divinizing directors; (11) indifference to others; (12) mournful face; (13) accumulating; (14) closed circles; and (15) worldly profit and exhibitionism.
Each sickness is explained and very well stated. He’s right. We’re all “sick” to one extent or another.
He ends with a message to all priests, and it’s a message all good leaders should delivers to all for whom he/she is responsible. He said: “Once I read that: ‘priests are like airplanes, they make news only when they fall, but there are so many that are flying. Many criticize and few pray for them.’ It is a very nice phrase but also very true because it delineates the importance and the delicacy of our priestly service and how much evil one priest who ‘falls’ can do to the whole Body of the Church."
Deacon David Pierce
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