Wiegel: Something more is expected of Benedict XVI

In a December 30th commentary piece in the L.A. Times, George Wiegel notes that those who knew the real Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger have not been surprised by how well he has handled the transition to being pontiff. "But something more was anticipated," writes Wiegel

— that the new pope would take in hand, and soon, a reform of the personnel and practice of the Roman Curia, the Catholic Church's central bureaucracy. More than a few of the cardinals who rallied to support him in one of the shortest conclaves in modern history did so because they believed Ratzinger, having spent more than two decades in the Curia, would know what was broken and would fix it.

That may yet come. The pope is a careful, prudent man, not given to impulsive action or premature decisions. At the same time, it was precisely because he was not a product of the current Curial system, but rather a scholar who had to struggle to get things accomplished within it, that his supporters expected him to bring to the papacy a well-developed sense of where changes, even dramatic ones, need to be made in both structure and personnel. Those supporters are waiting, now a little anxiously, for serious change to be implemented.

Comments

[Ed Peters]

EXACTLY my thoughts. Exactly. Mind you, the pope may set any pace he wants, and yes, yes, he knows best. But so far, by far the most significant thing about Benedict's papacy is that fact that he even IS pope in the first place. His election was a ringing endorsement of solid and articulate orthodoxy, the final breaking of the Italian model of the papacy, and all sorts of other cool things, but all of these so far revolve around the simple fact of his being there at all.

[Mark Brumley]

Without a crystal ball, I will freely opine, knowing it will probably be a while before I'm proven wrong or, mirabile dictu, shown to be incredibly insightful.

I wouldn't expect much for year-and-a-half or two years into B 16's papacy. Even then I don't think we'll see lots of changes for a couple of years beyond that. Sure, I'd like to see more a lot sooner. But I don't think it's going to happen any sooner.

To replace the so-called "Italian model of the papacy" takes more time, not less. If you wanted more of the same, you could put in almost anyone and just have them finesse things (or what they take to be finessing things). But if you want people who are really going to make changes and be able to weather a storm should one result from doing so, then you're going to want to make sure you have the right people in place and that will take time.

Frankly, I don't think we can tell much from any papal appointments for the next couple of years. Not that that means none of the appointments will be good ones. They may be. But they may also be short-term or intermediate-term concessions to existing realities.

[Patrick Coulton]

i'm sorry. I don't think the curia is the problem.
the problem is the local church.

what exactly are the problems that need fixing in the curia?
Traditionally the liberals have wanted more
power in the local churches so that the
universality of the church can be obscured,
i.e., so we can be like all the other churches.

Perhaps someone who is 'in the know' will let us
bumpkins know where the problems 'lie'.