All the Pope's Men (5 page)

The Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, which is the highest court of appeal in the Roman Catholic system of justice. It has three sections: the first handles appeals against sentences of the Roman Rota and settles conflicts of competence among the various tribunals; the second handles appeals from the decisions of other dicasteries of the Roman Curia and settles conflicts over competence among the dicasteries; and the third section, which is analogous to a ministry of justice, is responsible for overseeing the work of courts, lawyers, and judges, including decisions on erecting or suppressing lower tribunals.

Councils

Councils are the heart of what is known as the “new Curia" that developed after Vatican II, and in general they are distinguished from congregations by the fact they have no power of governance. The two exceptions are the Council for Laity, which has the legal authority to recognize the statutes of lay movements, and the Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, which can issue binding clarifications about the scope, meaning, and force of legal decrees. Councils are instruments of persuasion rather than coercion—their function is to study issues and promote causes within the Church and the broader culture. That the councils are further down the pecking order is reflected in manifold ways: several councils are headed by archbishops, whereas a congregation is always headed by a cardinal; there are more lay officials, a sign that the council does not draw on the authority of holy orders; physically, many councils are located in the Piazza San Calisto in Trastevere, farther away from St. Peter’s and the Pope.

The eleven councils are:

The Pontifical Council for Laity, which is responsible for matters relating to the coordination and promotion of the apostolic activity and Christian life of the laity. This mission includes overseeing the so-called “new movements" in the Catholic Church, such as the Neocatechumenate and Communion and Liberation.

The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, which is responsible for ecumenical dialogue and relations with other Christian churches. This council also houses the Commission for Religious Relations with Judaism.

The Pontifical Council for the Family, which is responsible for protecting and promoting the Church’s vision of the family. This involves the council in sometimes fierce battles against divorce, birth control, gay liberation movements, de facto partnerships, and a host of other social trends in the Western world.

The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which is responsible for promoting the social doctrine of the Catholic Church as it applies to issues of war, economic development, the environment, and a host of other issues. Since Justice and Peace is often called upon to comment on many of the same international crises as the Secretariat of State, some curialists worry about the council pursuing a kind of “parallel diplomacy." On the other hand, the council can sometimes be a useful instrument for saying things or pushing issues that the Secretariat of State or the Pope, for various diplomatic reasons, can’t or won’t take up.

The Pontifical Council “Cor Unum," which is responsible for expressing the care of the Church toward those in need. It fosters charitable works by the faithful and assists those in urgent or calamitous situations and those in special need.

The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, which is responsible for the care of people who are transient, such as the Roma people (commonly called gypsies) in Europe, and who are not readily cared for within traditional diocesan structures. It is also responsible for the Apostleship of the Sea dealing with pastoral care to sailors.

The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers, which is responsible for assisting health care workers, addressing their spiritual needs and those of their patients, as well as assisting local churches to train and regulate the activities of hospital chaplains. The council is popularly known as the Vatican’s Ministry of Health, and also exercises a sort of vigilance over Catholic hospitals around the world.

The Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, which is responsible for determining the meaning of the canons in the
Code of Canon Law
or of legally binding decisions of various dicasteries when questions arise. In July 2000, for example, the council issued a document clarifying that remarried divorced persons who have not received an annulment fall under canon 915, which says that people “who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin" cannot receive the Eucharist.

The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, which is responsible for managing the Catholic Church’s relationships with non-Christian religions, except for Judaism, which is handled by the Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The council was heavily involved, for example, in organizing the three gatherings of world religious leaders called for by Pope John Paul II in Assisi (1986, 1993, and 2002).

The Pontifical Council for Culture, which is responsible for the Catholic Church’s dialogue with the world of culture—the visual arts, literature, music, the various currents in intellectual life, science, and so forth. It was the Council for Culture, for example, that carried out a lengthy study culminating in Pope John Paul’s 1992 statement expressing regret for the way the Church responded to Galileo’s scientific theses.

The Pontifical Council for Social Communications, which is responsible for promoting a Christian vision of the world of mass communications. The council has recently put out documents on advertising and the Internet. As a practical matter, the council also handles all requests from broadcast media for access to the Holy See. The council takes special interest in Catholic newspapers and periodicals, as well as radio and television stations, to ensure that they faithfully represent the teaching of the Church and spread religious news accurately.

Other Offices

The Roman Curia also features a number of other offices for handling tasks not subsumed under any other dicastery. They include:

The Apostolic Camera, which is a department of the Curia created in the eleventh century to deal with the financial and administrative affairs of the Papal States. According to a 1967 constitution of Paul VI, the Apostolic Camera manages the financial holdings of the papacy during the interregnum. It is headed by the
camerlengo
, or chancellor, who governs the Church during the interregnum, although rules call for him to make no decisions that can await the next Pope.

The Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, the office responsible for administering the property and goods of the Holy See. According to 2003 Vatican figures, that patrimony was worth almost $800 million, representing largely real estate holdings and investment portfolios. This does not include, however, what most people conventionally think of as the patrimony of the Vatican, meaning masterpieces of Western art such as Michelangelo’s
Pietà
, or the Basilica of St. Peter itself. These treasures, which can never be sold or borrowed against and hence have no practical value, are listed on the Vatican books at 1 Euro each.

The Prefecture of the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, which is responsible for overseeing the annual operating budget of the Vatican, which in 2003 was $260 million.

The Prefecture of the Papal Household, which is responsible for audiences with the Pope and administering the Papal apartments. The prefect, currently American Archbishop James Harvey, receives visiting heads of state and escorts them to the papal apartments. He is also generally seated next to the Pope during public functions. The papal household also includes those who are on most intimate terms with the Pope, including his butler, Angelo Gugel, and the Polish nuns who prepare his meals and take care of his clothes.

The Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, which is responsible for organizing all papal liturgies and assisting the Pope at those liturgies, including all the ceremonies on papal trips. As such, the office has the capacity to set the liturgical tone for the Catholic Church, since the way the Pope celebrates Mass and the other rites of the Church is widely studied and imitated.

PAST AND PRESENT

Very briefly, it’s worth noting where these structures came from, because the Roman Curia has not always had its current configuration. The first mention of the phrase “Roman Curia" to describe the civil service around the Bishop of Rome came in a document of Pope Urban II in 1089, though popes had already drawn upon the services of aides and advisors for centuries. Niccolò del Re distinguishes five stages in the growth and development of the Roman Curia.

Presbyters and Synods
Up to the eleventh century, the papal bureaucracy consisted of secretaries who handled correspondence and registered decrees. The decision-making functions associated with the Roman Curia were performed by the presbyterate, or clergy, of the Rome diocese, and by occasional synods of bishops. Ignatius of Antioch, for example, mentions the body of clergy in Rome that assists the Pope as early as the second century. By the third century the Roman presbyterate was sufficiently conscious of its authority that it issued decisions even during the interregnum, when there was no pope. It intervened in 250, for example, after the death of Pope Fabian, in support of Cyprian of Carthage in a dispute over the
lapsi,
those who had been baptized but then renounced their faith during a persecution. Meanwhile a synod, or gathering of bishops in and around Rome, was held periodically (in certain eras, once a year) to deal with major questions, usually heresies. Many of their decisions found their way into a famous document called the
Decretals of Gratian,
which laid the basis for canon law.

Consistories
From the eleventh through sixteenth centuries, popes relied increasingly on
consistories,
or gatherings of all the cardinals, to advise and assist them in the work of administration. The term
cardinal
at the time referred to clergy who had been “incardinated," or transferred, into a new position. Generally when a cleric was incardinated, it meant he had been promoted. These clergy were responsible for running important Roman parishes, administering diocesan programs, or advising the Pope in special capacities. By the eleventh century, they had become the most direct and important collaborators of the Pope. St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) referred to the cardinals as the
judices orbis,
or judges of the world, in 1145. As the importance of the consistory grew, so did the frequency of its meetings. When Bernard wrote, the consistory met once a month; by the pontificate of Innocent III (1198–1216), it met three times a week, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Also during this era, four organs took shape to assist the cardinals: the Cancelleria for managing correspondence and documents, the Camera Apostolica for governance and finance, and the Roman Rota and Apostolic Penitentiary for legal matters. These are therefore the most antique dicasteries.

Reform of Sixtus V In the wake of the Protestant Reformation, Pope Sixtus was convinced of the need to create a more professional, streamlined bureaucracy to help administer the Church. Pope Sixtus can rightly be considered the father of the Roman Curia. In 1588 he distinguished between congregations for executive matters, of which he authorized fifteen, and tribunals for judicial questions. Just prior to the Sistine reform, in 1542, Pope Paul III had instituted the first permanent congregation of the Roman Curia: the Holy Roman and Universal Inquisition, which would become the Holy Office and then today’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Its original purpose was to hold back the Protestant invasion and to combat heresies as they arose. Of those congregations recognized by Pope Sixtus, some are still in existence today, such as the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for Rites. Others, however, outlived their usefulness with the collapse of the Papal States: for example, the Congregation for the Naval Fleet, the Congregation for the Abundance of Food in the Ecclesiastical State, and the Congregation for Streets, Bridges, and Waters. (The papal navy, by the way, consisted of ten ships whose mission was to fight pirates along the coasts of the Tyrrenian Sea.) At one stage there were no fewer than forty congregations, and the result was often confusion: one congregation would condemn something, another would uphold it. Other dicasteries fell into disuse over time because nobody bothered consulting them.

1917 Code
The reorganization of the Roman Curia carried out by the 1917
Code of Canon Law
suppressed a number of offices that had been in disuse and generally streamlined the internal organization. The Congregation for Indulgences and Relics and the Congregation for the Index, for example, were abolished and their functions transferred to the Holy Office. Eventually relics would become the business of the Congregation for Rites and Indulgences of the Apostolic Penitentiary. The result was a Roman Curia composed of eleven congregations, three tribunals, and six offices—basically the same physiognomy today.

Paul VI/John Paul II
Pope Paul VI, who had served as a key figure in the Roman Curia under Pope Pius XII, felt enormous respect for the Curia, as well as a keen awareness of the need for reform in light of the Second Vatican Council. His 1967 document,
Regimini Ecclesiae
universale,
was the most significant reordering of the Roman Curia since Pope Sixtus V. Key points of the Pauline reform:

The inclusion of diocesan bishops as full members of the congregations, in order to ensure that men with pastoral experience who lived outside Rome were involved in crafting policy.

The “internationalization" of the Curia, whose members and officials had been almost exclusively Italian, but who now were to come from a wide variety of national and linguistic backgrounds.

A time limit of five years for heads of dicasteries, their secretaries, and their consultors, to ensure a regular rotation in these important agencies. Paul also specified that the same people automatically step down when the Pope dies.

The introduction of mixed commissions at various levels to deal with mixed questions, in an effort to resolve turf battles and promote consistency.

Periodic meetings of the heads of all the dicasteries under the presidency of the Secretariat of State.

Placing the Secretariat of State above all the other dicasteries and removing the title “suprema" from the former Holy Office.

Removing the title “sacred" from the formal name of the various congregations.

Requiring cardinals and secretaries to submit their resignations at seventy-five, undersecretaries at seventy. It is up to the Pope to decide whether to accept those resignations. At the age of eighty cardinals automatically lose their membership in all dicasteries.

John Paul II built on Paul VI’s approach in his own 1988 document,
Pastor Bonus
, which is the constitution of the Roman Curia currently in force.

Today, 2,659 people work for the Roman Curia, of whom 744 are diocesan priests, bishops, archbishops, or cardinals, while there are 351 men and women religious and 1,564 laity. Also on the books are 892 retired employees drawing a pension. Those numbers could make it sound like laity are well-represented, but in fact the vast majority of these lay employees are engaged in work that is essentially secretarial. For example, every dicastery in the Roman Curia has someone, and sometimes several people, whose job it is to sit in the main reception room to answer the phone and receive visitors. These posts are almost entirely held by laity. If one considers the level of the
superiori
, the decision-making posts in the Curia consisting of the heads of dicasteries and their secretaries and undersecretaries, there are perhaps five hundred such positions and a mere handful of laity. In 2003, four laypeople had the rank of superior, all at the level of undersecretary or its equivalent: Uruguayan Guzmán Carriquiry, in the Pontifical Council for the Laity; Italian Angelo Scelzo, in the Pontifical Council for Social Communications; Italian Ivan Ruggiero, general accountant for the Prefecture of the Economic Affairs of the Holy See; and Spaniard Joaquin Navarro-Valls, head of the Holy See Press Office. There is only one case in the Roman Curia of a priest being under the authority of a layperson, and that’s in the Press Office, where Navarro-Valls is the director and Italian Passionist Fr. Ciro Benedettini is the vice-director. Women are underrepresented in senior positions. The highest-ranking laywoman in the Roman Curia is an Italian, Paola Fabrizi, who is a
capo
ufficio
, or head of a section, in the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Immaculate Heart Sr. Sharon Holland is also a
capo ufficio
in the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life. Another prominent laywoman is Belgian theologian Marie Hendrickx in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who presented the Pope’s Apostolic exhortation “On the Dignity of Women" to the press in 1988 and who supervises the theological preparation of some of the Pope’s letters. Hendrickx gained a fleeting fame in January 2001 when she published an article in L’Osser
vatore Romano
criticizing unnecessary cruelty to animals, citing specifically the modern food industry. She also questioned the moral legitimacy of bullfighting.

Perhaps the best expression of the ideals to which the Roman Curia aspires came from the modern Pope who understood it best, and precisely because he loved it, wanted to make it truer to its noblest self—Paul VI. In a speech on September 21, 1963, here’s what he had to say about the Roman Curia:

A most worthy instrument, to whom it is no source of wonder that so much is demanded, so much is required, by everyone, and first of all by us ourselves! Its work demands supreme capacities and virtues, exactly because the office itself is supreme. It is a most delicate work, which is that of being the custodian or the echo of divine truth and to make of this a language for dialogue with the human spirit; it is an enormous work, which has as its borders the entire world; it is a most noble work, which is that of hearing and interpreting the voice of the Pope and at the same time of ensuring that no piece of useful and objective information is denied him, no filial and thoughtful piece of advice. For this reason, how learned and expert must be the Roman Curia for being equal to its duty.