Vatican changes answer critics

Press, 13 April 1984, Page 8

Vatican changes answer critics

By PHILIP PULLELLA, of Reuter (through NZPA) Vatican City Pope John Paul II has implemented a shake-up of the Vatican Curia (government departments of the Vatican) in what Church and diplomatic sources see as a move to internationalise the Church’s hierarchy and distance himself from its daily bureaucracy. Recent sweeping changes in the Catholic Church’s staid central administration were headlined by Italian newspapers as an “earthquake in the Vatican.” The sources said that the long-awaited changes clearly showed the Pope’s intention to make the Curia more international and less Italian. Eleven of the 16 appointed or reasimportant Curia

posts are non-Italians. They include an American, a Frenchman, a Belgian, a Pole, a Hungarian, two Africans, a German, a Brazilian, an Irishman, and an Argentine. The shake-up had directly addressed some Vatican problems and some criticisms of the Pope, the sources said. Some leading churchmen around the world had complained privately that the Curia was dominated by Italians who often did not understand the problems and methods of the Catholic Church outside Italy. The Pope, who in 1978 became the first non-Italian pontiff in 455 years, answered the complaints by appointing or reassigning the 11 non-Italians to key Curia posts. Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, of Benin, who gfceady held Curia posts, ®catne

Prefect of the Congregation for the Bishops, one of the most powerful Vatican positions and one traditionally held by an Italian. Another African, Archbishop Francis Arinze, of Nigeria, was put in charge of the Secretariat for nonChristians. Monsignor John Foley, of Philadelphia, was named president of the Commission for Social Communications, indicating that long-ex-pected changes in the way the Vatican deals with the news media may be near. His post was held by a nonItalian — Archbishop Andrzej Deskur, a Pole and a close friend of the Pope’s, who resigned because of illhealth. !:

By appointing some of the non-Italians - to posts that traditionally lead ; to the cardinalate, the Pope may also be trying to improve the

chances that a non-Italian would succeed him, the sources said. The Pope’s shake-up was also a reply to criticism from the Church hierarchy that his frequent world travels left him insufficient time to look after Vatican administration. The Church officials complained privately that the Pope did not give enough direct attention to several Vatican problems, including the activities of the Vatican bank.

The Pope, acknowledging that he preferred to concentrate on the Church’s pastoral and spiritual problems, gave Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, the Vatican Secretary of State, a special mandate to oversee all the internal affairs of the Vatican City. That means that Cardinal Casaroli will closely oversee the day-to-dayjiunning of the Vatican, inciting its spending and

the administration of the Vatican bank. Informed sources said that Cardinal Casaroli’s unprecedented mandate indicated the Pope’s concern over Vatican Budget deficits, which have run to about SUS3O million ($46 million) a year lately, and over the bank’s entanglement with the failed Banco Ambrosiano. Cardinal Casaroli will give up his post as head of the Patrimony of the Holy See, which manages the Vatican’s investments and other assets. His successor will be Cardinal Agnelo Rossi, a Brazilian. Cardinal Rossi is replaced as director of the Office for Evangelisation by Archbishop Dermot Ryan, of Dublin, who is certain to be named a cardinal at the next consistory. j. The sources said tfijt Car-

dinal Casaroli’s role as “deputy Pope” meant a diminished role for Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, the American president of the Vatican bank and pro-Presi-dent (Governor) of the Vatican City. The Vatican bank, which owned part of the Ambrosiano, has come under scrutiny since Ambrosiano, Italy’s biggest private banking group, collapsed in 1982. Italian officials probing the affairs of the group have said that the Vatican bank was responsible for SUSI. 3 billion (?2 billion) in Ambrosiano debts, and Archbishop Marcinkus has been criticised for not cooperating fully with the investigation.

The Vatican has denied moral or financial responsibility but has agreed to pay SUS2SO million ($3BO million) towards Ambrosiano’s debts.