The annual greeting comes at a tense time for the
Curia, the central administration of the Holy See which governs the 1.2-billion strong Catholic Church.
Nella formazione del primo codice della Chiesa il titolo De
Curia dioecesana e apparso a stadio avanzato dei lavori e precisamente dopo che furono inviate le bozze del I e II libro del Codice ai vescovi, abati e superiori dei religiosi, il 20 marzo 1912 (20).
Otros factores contribuyen a hacer dificil la delimitacion de los aspectos netamente canonicos del servicio a la
Curia romana: la dependencia radical del Papa segun entes y oficios diferentes pero que se reconducen a su autoridad y a su persona; la reciente acentuacion de proyectar normativas canonicas en relaciones juridicas vaticanas y viceversa (1), y la provisionalidad de la situacion actual marcada por procesos de reforma.
Gracias said, "The pope wanted a mindset of service to prevail and that the
Curia also be directly available to the bishops" in order to help them.
And we have to struggle," he said, noting that
Curia officials had to be careful not to succumb to materialism and careerism.
St Ignatius of Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises refers to the 'Three Classes of Men'; perhaps Pope Francis took a cue from this important meditation when he referred to three categories of persons within the
curia today.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, I would like to begin this meeting of ours by offering cordial good wishes to all of you, superiors and officials, papal representatives and staff of the nunciatures worldwide, all those working in the Roman
Curia and to your families.
Our ignorance about the big picture in the long sequence of facts about the Roman
Curia and about many factors in this history is just one of the causes of the anti-Curia sentiment--part of the antirdmische Affekt Hans Urs von Balthasar talked about--that has always been strong in Catholicism (especially in the city of Rome, paradoxically one of the most secular in the Western world).