Curial Reform, or parting the red sea, as I call it, has taken an interesting turn.  Pope Francis chose 20 new cardinals recently and he chose them from places worldwide and from dioceses or countries hereto not represented at the Vatican by a cardinal. These cardinals under the age of 80 are the part of the college of cardinals that vote for the next pope.  I will be curious to see what difference this selection of cardinals has for the next papal election. The parting of the red sea of cardinals is marked only by “mixing it up” as it were.  What good comes for the RC Universal Church from this strategy, time will only tell. 

One thing that is clear from the continuous choosing of cardinals, is that, Pope Francis is not altering the basic structure of the Curia or developing alternative church governing bodies, that are representative of the members of the Church, like including the laity. It must also be noted that it was decided by the Vatican this past week, that no vote will be taken on curial reform.

I am reminded of an entry on the Association of Catholic Priests website by Father Seamus Ahearne, also this past week.  Father Ahearne  says that the Church is very old. Indeed, and it is highly questionable, whether, maintaining the Curia, which is replete with old  men,  is going to bring about curial reform or bring the Church into the 21^st century, no matter how religious the old men may be.

Interestingly and coincidentally, Jesuit Priest, Father Thomas Reese, who is a regular commentator of Church business, on the National Catholic Reporter, wrote this past week, that the Vatican and Pope Francis is moving too slowly on Curial Reform.  Here is a quote from the conclusion of his article:

That it took the Council of Cardinals two years to come up with this reshuffling of boxes on the organizational chart simply shows they really don't know what they are doing. It should have taken two months to develop this plan, not two years. At this pace, Pope Francis will be dead before real reform hits the Curia.

Pay close attention to his last sentence of the above quote which reads:

Pope Francis will be dead before real reform hits the Curia……Ouch!....Let’s pray not!

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