The interview, conducted last week in the pope’s spartan residence in a Vatican guest house, appeared as he began a three-day, closed-door meeting with eight cardinals from around the world to help him reform the Vatican’s troubled administration, known as the Curia.
There are some “courtiers” among the Curia’s administrators, he said, but its main defect is that it is too inward-looking.
“It looks after the interests of the Vatican, which are still, in large part temporal interests. This Vatican-centric vision neglects the world around it and I will do everything to change it,” he said.
Francis said the eight cardinals he had chosen to make up his advisory board did not have selfish motives.
“They are not courtiers but wise people who are inspired by my same feelings. This is the start of a Church with an organisation that is not only vertical but also horizontal,” he said.
Editor’s note: The Church and its leadership has never been immune to the novelties of the times.
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