Roman Catholics: Shattering Tradition

Pope Paul has confounded critics by his basic dichotomy of views: conservative in doctrine and theology, progressive in matters of administration and social involvement. For example, soon after he excoriated laissez-faire capitalism in his encyclical Populorum Progressio, he left Roman Catholic liberals bitterly disappointed by his decision to uphold priestly celibacy. Many of the same liberals were delighted last week as Paul ordered one of the most sweeping changes in Roman Catholic church administration made by any Pope in the past four centuries.

What the Pope did was to order a shake-up of the Curia, the Roman Catholic Church’s all-powerful governing bureaucracy. New regulations will bring to an end the dominance of a small clique of elderly, ultra-conservative Italian cardinals who have clung to the levers of power for a lifetime and used their position to stifle reform. Now the doors are open to a constant flow of clerics with varied backgrounds and, most important, new ideas.

As of Jan. 1, 1968, when the decree takes effect, the term of curial office will in most cases be limited to five years instead of the traditional lifetime appointments. And to prevent the kind of friction between Pontiff and Curia that plagued Pope John, henceforth all cardinals heading curial offices and congregations (administrative divisions) must resign when a Pope dies, allowing the incoming Pontiff to choose a staff to his liking. Ending the present system, which allows some clerics to make the Curia their entire career, the Pope insists that all future congregation members must have some pastoral experience and should be drawn from all parts of the globe. The changes will also permit languages other than Latin to be used for the first time in all Curia business, bring more lay Catholic advisers into the congregations, and open the cardinal-dominated Curia to bishops from outside Rome.

The Old Ones. The turnover in Curia membership could start quite soon. When the provision of a five-year term of office takes effect next January, the present curial officials must be newly approved by the Pope. This would give him a chance to ease some of the old guard out. In fact, there is already heavy pressure on at least four, including Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani, 76, and Giuseppe Cardinal Pizzardo, 90, to step clown. Pizzardo has served since 1908.

The most important new appointment will be a cardinal to fill the upgraded post of Secretary of State—or Papal Secretary, as it will now be called. The present Secretary of State, Cardinal Cicognani, 84, is soon expected to resign. His successor will be a kind of Vatican Prime Minister, with new responsibility to coordinate Curia affairs and to summon cardinals to Cabinet-style meetings. The Pope also set up an office to supervise the four departments that handle the Vatican’s vast financial interests.

It was too early to say what the changes would bring. As he has frequently done in the past, the Pope may still decide to hedge the liberalism of the Curia reform with several conservative appointments. But as Pope John himself may have realized during his constant battle with the Curia, the new spirit that he ushered into the church can never really take hold without exactly the kind of administrative revolution that Pope Paul has now decreed.