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Pope Leo XIV urged Vatican Cardinals put aside their ambitions for power and personal interests on Monday as they followed in the footsteps of Pope Francis and used Christmas greetings to gently criticize their closest allies.
“Is it possible to be a friend in the Roman Curia?” Leo asked the cardinals and bishops who make up the Curia, as the Holy See bureaucracy is known. “To have real brotherly friendship relationships?”
The fact that Leo asked the question American The Pope is well aware that the Curia remains a difficult and sometimes toxic workplace, which Francis often highlights in his annual Christmas addresses.
Leo did not repeat Francis’s more scathing criticism – that Vatican clergy sometimes suffer from “spiritual Alzheimer’s”, the “cancer” of factions, the “corruption” of ambition and “self-absorbed” idle gossip – and his tone was far more gentle and constructive.
But the underlying message remained. Leo, who was very close to Francis and worked at the Vatican for two years before his election, did not shy away from Francis’s tradition of using the Christmas occasion to urge Vatican bureaucrats to examine their conscience and change their ways for the good of the Church.
Leo said, “Sometimes this bitterness finds its way into us too, when, after many years of service in the Curia, we see with dismay that certain dynamics – linked to the exercise of power, the desire to prevail, or the pursuit of personal interests – are slow to change.”
“Amid the daily toil, it is a grace to find trusted friends, where the masks are taken away, no one is used or sidelined, genuine support is offered, and the value and potential of each person is respected, preventing resentment and resentment.”
After Francis’ sometimes tumultuous 12-year pontificate, in which the Argentine Jesuit at times alienated conservatives and some in the Vatican bureaucracy, Leo has generally tried to be a peacemaker who values unity.
He on Monday called on Vatican bureaucrats to work to establish reconciliation inside and outside the church.
“In a world wounded by discord, violence and conflict, where we are also witnessing a rise in aggression and anger, often exploited by both the digital sphere and politics, Christmas invites everyone to work for peace and universal brotherhood,” he said.
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