Reform of the Roman Curia

Louie,

In a recent interview  with Fr. Thomas Rosica of Salt and Light Television, the Ambassador of Newchurch, Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, said in reference to the reform of the Roman Curia:

“[Pastor Bonus – John Paul II’s Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia] is over, now it is something different. We need to write something different.”

Though the process will go well into next year, one shudders to think what may be coming down the pike. Based on the experience of the past seven or so months, I can think of a few possibilities, some serious, others not so much. (Unfortunately, the difference may not be immediately clear.)

Among the newly created departments:

Pontifical Council for Clerical Humility

Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of the Homosexual Person

Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Religious Diversity

Pontifical Commission for the Promotion of Mutual Understanding with Muslims 

Pontifical Council… no, make that, Congregation for the Ecclesial Role of Women

Congregation for Conscience, which will have direct oversight of the newly created:

Pontifical Commission for the Pastoral Care of the Atheistic Person

Prefecture for Papal Popularity and Public Persona

Some curial offices will be renamed to better reflect modern day concerns.

Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts will become:

Pontifical Council for Deliberately Informal Speech Unconcerned with Precision

Others will be combined.

Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue and Pontifical Council for Dialogue with Non-Believers will join forces to form:

Pontifical Council for the Joint Search for Truth with Humanists, Heathens and Heretics

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will add a new section:

The Holy Office of the Inquisition of Restorationists

I’m sure you can think of others. Feel free to add them here, just don’t tell anyone associated with the “C-8.” We wouldn’t want to give them any ideas.

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Comments (25)

  3. …how about….

    The Holy Office help for ‘the Paganized Society—The Effects of Secularism’

  4. I think all these Pontifical Councils and Commissions could be supervised by the Pontifical Council for the Complete Hand Over of the Roman Catholic Church to the United Nations.

  5. Sometimes bullying needs to be met with counter-bullying. (I’m serious.) A few courageous cardinals willing to sacrifice it all need to band together and confront Rodríguez Maradiaga, face-to-face AND in the press, to tell him that he has no right to facilitate, in short order, the dismantling of Catholic Tradition, the Church’s venerable governance structures, and the integrity of the Catholic faith generally. Tradition binds even the Supreme Pontiff, and if Rodríguez Maradiaga and Francis want to pull the Church apart limb from limb, that’s on them! This needs to be made very clear to them, with no mincing of words.

  6. For clarification:
    The United Nations promote for decades LGTB issues, Gender equality, interreligious dialogue, religious tolerance, social justice and peace. Leonardo Boff (Earth-Charta) and Hans Küng (Global Ethic foundation) already work for them (both love Pope Francis).
    The UN also support the “Bologna School” via the Unesco Chair for Religious Pluralism and Peace.
    UN- Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon loves Pope Francis too:
    “We discussed the need to advance social justice and accelerate work to meet the Millennium Development Goals. This is vital if we are to meet the millennium promise for the world’s poorest,” Mr. Ban told reporters in Rome after his first meeting with Pope Francis. “It was an uplifting, hopeful meeting. Pope Francis is a man of peace and purpose. He is a voice for the voiceless.” Mr. Ban said he was greatly honoured to have an audience with the newly elected Pope, and said that His Holiness’ choice of name – after Saint Francis of Assisi – was a powerful message for the many goals and principles shared by the United Nations. “It speaks loudly of his commitment to the poor, his deep sense of humility, his passion and compassion to improve the human condition,” Mr. Ban said. “I was especially privileged to meet Pope Francis as we mark 1,000 days to the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals.” –
    There are over 1 billion Catholics in the world. Recent data from the Church suggests that Catholicism is growing fastest in sub-Saharan Africa compared to other regions of the world. It is also the one region in which the MDGs are struggling the most. Having the titular head of the Catholic Church give this strong an endorsement of the MDGs–and of the UN’s development agenda more broadly — is a very big help to the cause. –
    http://www.undispatch.com/photo-of-the-day-ban-ki-moon-and-pope-francis

  8. A. Pontifical Council for promoting Seders

    B. Pontifical Council for promoting education of Catholic Youth by The Messias-Deniers

    C, Pontifical Council of denials and obfuscations

    D. National Rubbers Day (see C)

    E. Pontifical Council for establishing Favelas in every neighborhood that is white and orderly.

    F. Pontifical Council for the promotion of “Roast Marshmallows not heretics”
    Felt Banners to be installed in every Cathedral.

    G. Pontifical Council for The Ixnay of Atinlay

  10. Pontifical Council for the promotion of “Teen Masses” to entertain teens instead of save their souls.

  12. An overlooked document to the confusion with Cardinal Maradiaga is BXVI’s:
    “Letter to the Bishops of Latin America and Caribbean” AKA “the Aparecida Document of 2007”.

    It is the blue-print for Francis’ approach to the New Evangelization that Maradiaga misquoted in his speech on the “importance of the new evangelization” in Dallas.

    It’s central tenants are:
    1) Catholic culture, including Marian devotion, is at risk of being lost to secular media
    2) The Church is called to imitate the “Good Samaritan” and “suffering servant”
    3) Hierarchy must be committed to supporting laity’s co-responsibility for the Church

    Cardinal Maradiaga has simply interpreted the document to mean that the days of the “Eurocentric” and Italian ‘power-hungry’ Church are over, and that the blue-print for replacing that model is “Aparecida Document”

  13. Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Dogmatic Opinion…..

    after all, there is no absolute TRUTH!

  15. Pontifical Council for the promotion of lukewarm-ness (Apocalypse 3:16)
    Ponitfical Council for the promotion of grape-bearing fig trees (James 3:12)
    Pontifical Counci for the demolition of traditions (2 Thessalonians 2:14)

  16. Billy – I hope you’re kidding – if you’ve been taught that to be a Christian means to be outside the Catholic Church or to spurn Her teachings, may the Mother of God give you guidance out of the mire of thinkings of protestantising ‘disciples’, who, after all are protesting against that which Christ vouchsafed to His Apostolic Church.

    As for Pontifical Councils: the PC for the Destruction of the Faith with a capital ‘F’ to faith with a lower-case ‘f’, aka, it’s ‘faith’, Jim, but not as we know it.

  18. The Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, of which Francis served as an outspoken leader, assume that the world knows the following (quoted from Aparecida Document 2007):

    1) Latin America and the Caribbean are very important to the Church…43% of all the faithful live there
    2) Vatican II is widely misinterpreted, or ignored for the sake of pre-conciliarism

    His visit to Aparecida during WYD should have reiterated the Latin American Bishops’ message, but Francis did not explicitly address it and has instead used indirect communication to make his point. Cardinal Maradiaga tries to make up for lost ground, but borders on a ‘non-denom’ sounding church than what the “Aparecida Document” calls for.

    What is needed, besides the Synod on the Family–a crucial step, is a letter from Francis directly communicating his views on the “Aparecida Document of 2007” and Maradiaga’s overly-zealous interpretation. If BXVI is needed to help clarify, he is still available…

  19. From WYD Rio, this is the extent of his message on Aparecida:

    “There is something that I would like to say first of all. Six years ago the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean was held in this Shrine. Something beautiful took place here, which I witnessed at first hand. I saw how the Bishops – who were discussing the theme of encountering Christ, discipleship and mission – felt encouraged, supported and in some way inspired by the thousands of pilgrims who came here day after day to entrust their lives to Our Lady. That Conference was a great moment of Church. It can truly be said that the Aparecida Document was born of this interplay between the labours of the Bishops and the simple faith of the pilgrims, under Mary’s maternal protection.”http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2013/documents/papa-francesco_20130724_gmg-omelia-aparecida_en.html

    Again, since it is such a long document, a follow up letter from him for the whole Church would be helpful

  21. I stand corrected, Francis spoke at length on the Aparecida Document at WYD, especially with his fellow bishops in Brazil.

    The summary is as follows:
    “The conclusions of the Aparecida Conference insist on the countenance of a Church which is by her very nature evangelizing, which exists for evangelization, with boldness and freedom, at all levels”http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/speeches/2013/july/documents/papa-francesco_20130727_gmg-episcopato-brasile_en.html

    In regard to Beaurocracy:
    “The Episcopal Conference is precisely a vital space for enabling such an exchange of testimonies about encounters with the Risen One, in the north, in the south, in the west… There is need, then, for a greater appreciation of local and regional elements. Central bureaucracy is not sufficient; there is also a need for increased collegiality and solidarity. This will be a source of true enrichment for all”(ibid)

    Therefore: Francis is overtly leading the Church with the “blue-print” of Aparecida in mind.

  22. Pontifical Council for Promotion of The Operation Of Error (see 2nd Thess 2:10 ). These Churchmen have no love of truth (nor did I for most of my life). Is God sending the Operation of Error so that we may be judged “who have not believed the truth, but have consented to iniquity”? The modernists seem determined to shove the next stage of their revolution down everyone’s throats. As St. Pius X said in Pascendi, they view themselves as saviors of the Church and not revolutionaries which makes them all the more dangerous. Our Lord may have seen this 100+ year travesty of modernism and simply said “fine have your way”. I definitely don’t believe it just happened while he wasn’t paying attention.

    Thank you for your work Mr Verrecchio

  23. Here’s 3 more:
    – Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Clown Masses and Other Novel Forms of Entertainment to Spruce Up the Boring Old Mass (with Card.s Barnum and Bailey to jointly preside)
    – Pontifical Council for the Increase in Power of the Clerical Homosexual Lobby (as the power of this lobby is seriously under-represented at this time to the Church’s great shame!)
    – Pontifical Council for the Primacy of Political Correctness (the first resolution of which will be to cause the changing of the unsuitable as potentially offensive name of the newly created “Pontifical Council for the Joint Search for Truth with Humanists, Heathens and Heretics” to the more acceptable: “Pontifical Council for the Joint Search for Truth with Humanists, Non-believers (Who We Are Really OK With Now – Honest!) and Heretics”.

  24. a wee addition to Roi’s contribution – basically the PC to remove all stigma from sin which leads to eternal death. Personally speaking more than a little stigma goes a loooong way to conversion – the Truth is courting one every moment, as is eternal death. The final ‘wedding’ is up to oneself.

  25. You all forgot one…

    The Pontifical Council to prepare for the Comming of the Antichrist…

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