Vatican Diary – Cuts and consolidations in the curia. Here’s where

Around ten dicasteries are hanging in the balance. And so are their current heads. Including cardinals Burke, Cañizares, Versaldi, Coccopalmerio. And archbishops Paglia, Celli, Fisichella

“Combine the dicasteries, for example, to streamline the organization a bit.”

This is what Pope Francis said he wanted to do in the Roman curia, responding to journalists on the return flight from his pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

The fact that the merger of dicasteries was one of the changes studied by the council of eight cardinals – the “C8,” selected by the pontiff to assist him in the reform of the curia and in the governance of the universal Church – was not a secret.

But for the first time Francis himself has expressly indicated this objective. The pope added that the C8 will discuss it not only at the scheduled four-day meeting at the beginning of July, but also at a subsequent meeting on the calendar for September.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio made no reference to what the projected mergers may entail.

But by connecting the dots it is already possible to figure out which dicasteries are most at risk.

Let’s start with a first consideration.

The immediate predecessors of Pope Francis, once they were elected, over the span of a few weeks had confirmed in their positions the heads of all the curial dicasteries who had lost their mandates during the sede vacante.

Francis did not follow this practice. So much so that almost fifteen months after his election there are still a good number of dicasteries that have not had the confirmation of their leadership or their member cardinals and bishops.

As of now the pontiff has confirmed the leaders of the secretariat of state, the prefecture of the pontifical household, the office for liturgical ceremonies, and of eight of the nine existing congregations: doctrine of the faith, Oriental Churches, causes of saints, bishops, evangelization of peoples, clergy, religious, Catholic education. But not the leaders of the congregation for divine worship.

Pope Francis has also confirmed the leaders of five pontifical councils (laity, Christian unity, justice and peace, interreligious dialogue, culture) but not those of the other six: family, Cor Unum, migrants, legislative texts – where, however, a new undersecretary has been appointed – social communications, new evangelization.

Nor has there been any confirmation of the leaders of the apostolic signatura – although an adjunct secretary has been sent – nor of those of the administration of the patrimony of the apostolic see, APSA, and of the prefecture for economic affairs.

While among the pontifical commissions only the one for Latin America, connected to the congregation for bishops, has been confirmed, but not yet the three connected to doctrine of the faith (Ecclesia Dei, biblical commission, and international theological commission), nor that of sacred archaeology, connected to the council for culture.

Having said that, it is interesting to note what happened last May 22, when the new cardinals created last February by Pope Francis were assigned their membership in the curial dicasteries. Appointments that had an appendix on May 28 with the inclusion of the new cardinal Pietro Parolin, the secretary of state, in the congregation for the doctrine of the faith.

 

On the whole what has happened is that the new cardinals have been distributed only and exclusively in the dicasteries already confirmed by Pope Francis, including the pontifical commission for Latin America, but not in the others still on hold.

No newly created cardinal, therefore, has been made a member of the congregation for divine worship, which until Paul VI was part and parcel of the congregation for the causes of saints, under the name of the congregation for rites.

Just as no newly created cardinal has been assigned to the pontifical councils for the family, migrants, legislative texts, social communications, new evangelization and Cor Unum. Nor has there been any assignment to the apostolic signatura and to APSA.

 

A simple coincidence? Or are these precisely the curial dicasteries on the verge of being “streamlined” and “consolidated?”

Still, it must be taken into account that almost all of the dicastery heads confirmed by Pope Francis are the same as before his election as pope, in spite of the universally negative judgments that have fallen upon the curia they lead and the general requests for a change of personnel before structures.

 

The following is the list of cardinals and bishops currently at the top of the organisms of the Roman curia properly speaking.

 

In bold are the churchmen confirmed in their positions and in bold and underlined are those appointed “ex novo” by the current pontiff.

To this list must obviously be added the secretariat for the economy created by Pope Francis, who placed at its head, as prefect, the Australian cardinal George Pell, 73.

SECRETARIAT OF STATE

- Cardinal Pietro Parolin, 59, Italian diplomat, secretary of state
- Archbishop Angelo Becciu, 66, Italian diplomat, substitute for general affairs
- Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, 62, French diplomat (Corsica), secretary for relations with states

 

CONGREGATIONS

- Cardinal Gerhard L. Müller, 67, German, prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith
- Archbishop Luis Ladaria, 70, Spanish Jesuit, secretary
- Archbishop Augustine Di Noia, 71, United States Dominican, adjunct secretary

- Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, 71, Argentine diplomat, prefect of the congregation for Eastern Churches
- Archbishop Cyril Vasil, 49, Slovak Jesuit, secretary

- Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, 69, Spanish, prefect of the congregation for divine worship
- Archbishop Arthur Roche, 64, English, secretary

- Cardinal Angelo Amato, 76, Italian Salesian, prefect of the congregation for the causes of saints
- Archbishop Marcello Bartolucci, 70, Italian, secretary

- Cardinal Marc Ouellet, 70, Canadian Sulpician, prefect of the congregation for bishops
- Archbishop Ilson de Jesus Montanari, 55, Brazilian, secretary

- Cardinal Fernando Filoni, 68, Italian diplomat, prefect of the congregation for the evangelization of peoples
- Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-fai, 64, Chinese Salesian, secretary
- Archbishop Protase Rugambwa, 54, Tanzanian, adjunct secretary

- Cardinal Beniamino Stella, 73, Italian diplomat, prefect of the congregation for the clergy
- Archbishop Celso Morga Iruzubieta, 66, Spanish, of Opus Dei, secretary
- Archbishop Jorge Carlos Patron Wong, 56, Mexican, secretary for seminaries

- Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, 67, Brazilian, prefect of the congregation for religious
- Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo, 61, Spanish Franciscan, secretary

- Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, 75, Polish, prefect of the congregation for Catholic education
- Archbishop Angelo Zani, 64, Italian, secretary

TRIBUNALS

- Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, 70, Italian, penitentiary

- Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, 66, United States, prefect of the apostolic signatura
- Archbishop Frans Daneels, 73, Belgian Norbertine, secretary
- Bishop Giuseppe Sciacca, 59, adjunct secretary

 

PONTIFICAL COUNCILS

- Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, 69, Polish, president of the pontifical council for the laity
- Bishop Josef Clemens, 67, German, secretary

- Cardinal Kurt Koch, 64, Swiss, president of the pontifical council for the promotion of Christian unity
- Bishop Brian Farrell, 70, Irish, of the Legionaries of Christ, secretary

- Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, 69, Italian, president of the pontifical council for the family
- Bishop Jean Laffitte, 62, French, secretary

- Cardinal Peter Turkson, Ghanaian, 66, president of the pontifical council for justice and peace
- Bishop Mario Toso, 64, Italian Salesian, secretary

- Cardinal Robert Sarah, 69, Guinean, president of the pontifical council “Cor Unum”

- Cardinal Antonio M. Vegliò, 76, Italian diplomat, president of the pontifical council for the pastoral care of migrants and itinerants
- Bishop Joseph Kalathiparambil, 62, Indian, secretary

- Archbishop Zimowski Zygmunt, 65, Polish, president of the pontifical council for the pastoral care of health care workers

- Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, 76, Italian, president of the pontifical council for legislative texts
- Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, 63, Spanish, of Opus Dei, secretary

- Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, 71, French diplomat, president of the pontifical council for interreligious dialogue

- Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, 72, Italian, president of the pontifical council for culture
- Bishop Carlos Alberto de Pinho Moreira Azevedo, 61, Portuguese, delegate
- Bishop Barthelemy Adoukonou, 72, Beninois, secretary

- Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, 73, Italian diplomat, president of the pontifical council for social communications

- Archbishop Rino Fisichella, 63, Italian, president of the pontifical council for the promotion of the new evangelization
- Archbishop Octavio Ruiz Arenas, 70, Colombia, secretary

OFFICES

- Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, 71, Italian, president of the administration of the patrimony of the apostolic see

- Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, 71, Italian, president of the prefecture for economic affairs of the Holy See

OTHER ORGANISMS

- Archbishop Georg Gänswein, 58, German, prefect of the pontifical household

Source: vassallomalta.wordpress.com (June 10, 2014)