He appears to know many things that require fixing in the Church, such as, how the Vatican Bank is organized and operated and he has done some shuffling of the Vatican offices. He continues to address such issues as sexual abuse by the clergy and clerical financial abuse. He is also preparing an encyclical to address ecology and the environment. He always speaks out on travesties around the globe. He never ceases to remind the Church leadership, including priests, bishops, and cardinals, that they are to be not only governing the people but, they need to be true disciples of Christ, specifically, reminding them of their pastoral work of love and mercy. Indeed, Pope Francis directs all of the Church to embrace their Christian mission, especially for the love and care of the poor and disenfranchised.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all, however, if Pope Francis is fatigued with the project of "Reform". Apparently, he has strong opposition within the Vatican and Pope Francis clearly has a greater desire to concentrate his efforts outside the walls of that same Vatican and the Universal Church Institution. Robert Mickens, long time commentator for the Vatican, has an article in the National Catholic Reporter entitled, "The Fear of Roman Curial Reform." The sense I get from reading this article, is that, many, many Cardinals are not on board with the notion of revamping the Curia. If this is so, then, everyone who is anticipating a major revision of Church Governance will be tremendously disappointed. There is a very real possibility, that Curial Reform, might amount to simply moving the Vatican furniture around!

In addition to Roman Curial Reform, the Synod on the Family, and the the need to develop, what Pope Francis, calls "A Theology of Women" looms large on the Universal Church’s To Do List! Reform is very, very hard to do. Why else did Luther finally nail his resolutions to a door and carry on his ministry without Rome? There are reformers who suggest that because of Pope Francis, we are in a new era of Catholicism. That can only be true, if Pope Francis is committed to over-hauling the Church and implements even more changes. Thank God, he is committed to the Poor, to Christ and to Vatican II, but, in fairness to Pope Francis, he is what I call, "Good Old Wine, but, he is not New Wine, and that makes all the difference, in terms, of what he can and cannot envision for the extraordinary and massive Universal Church, now and into the future.

-----