Principes van de Curiehervorming

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. Best wishes for a holy and serene Christmas and a happy New Year 2017!

Saint Augustine, contemplating the face of the Baby Jesus, exclaimed: “immense in the form of God, tiny in the form of a slave”. To describe the mystery of the Incarnation, Saint Macarius, the fourth-century monk and disciple of Saint Anthony Abbot, used the Greek verb “smikryno”, to become small, to reduce to the bare minimum. He says: “Listen attentively: the infinite, unapproachable and uncreated God, in his immense and ineffable goodness has taken a body, and, I dare say, infinitely diminished his glory”.

Christmas is thus the feast of the loving humility of God, of the God who upsets our logical expectations, the established order, the order of the dialectician and the mathematician. In this upset lies all the richness of God’s own thinking, which overturns our limited human ways of thinking (cf. Is 55: 8-9). As Romano Guardini said: “What an overturning of all our familiar values – not only human values but also divine values! Truly this God upsets everything that we claim to build up on our own”. At Christmas, we are called to say “yes” with our faith, not to the Master of the universe, and not even to the most noble of ideas, but precisely to this God who is the humble lover.

Blessed Paul VI, on Christmas of 1971, said: “God could have come wrapped in glory, splendour, light and power, to instill fear, to make us rub our eyes in amazement. But instead he came as the smallest, the frailest and weakest of beings. Why? So that no one would be ashamed to approach him, so that no one would be afraid, so that all would be close to him and draw near him, so that there would be no distance between us and him. God made the effort to plunge, to dive deep within us, so that each of us, each of you, could speak intimately with him, trust him, draw near him and realize that he thinks of you and loves you… He loves you! Think about what this means! If you understand this, if you remember what I am saying, you will have understood the whole of Christianity”.

God chose to be born a tiny child because he wanted to be loved. Here we see, as it were, how the logic of Christmas is the overturning of worldly logic, of the mentality of power and might, the thinking of the Pharisees and those who see things only in terms of causality or determinism.

In this gentle yet overpowering light of the divine countenance of the Christ Child, I have chosen as the theme of this, our yearly meeting, the reform of the Roman Curia. It seemed to me right and fitting to share with you the framework of the reform, to point out its guiding principles, the steps taken so far, but above all the logic behind every step already taken and what is yet to come.

Here I spontaneously think of the ancient adage that describes the process of the Spiritual Exercises in the Ignatian method: deformata reformare, reformata conformare, conformata confirmare et confirmata transformare.

There can be no doubt that, for the Curia, the word reform is to be understood in two ways. First of all, it has to make the Curia con-form “to the Good News which must be proclaimed joyously and courageously to all, especially to the poor, the least and the outcast”. To make it con-form “to the signs of our time and to all its human achievements”, so as “better to meet the demands of the men and women whom we are called to serve”. At the same time, this means con-forming the Curia ever more fully to its purpose, which is that of cooperating in the ministry of the Successor of Peter (cum ipso consociatam operam prosequuntur, as the Motu Proprio Humanam Progressionem puts it), and supporting the Roman Pontiff in the exercise of his singular, ordinary, full, supreme, immediate and universal power.

Consequently, the reform of the Roman Curia must be guided by ecclesiology and directed in bonum et in servitium, as is the service of the Bishop of Rome. This finds eloquent expression in the words of Pope Saint Gregory the Great, quoted in the third chapter of the Constitution Pastor Aeternus of the First Vatican Council: “My honour is that of the universal Church. My honour is the solid strength of my brothers. I feel truly honoured when none of them is denied his due honour”.

Since the Curia is not an immobile bureaucratic apparatus, reform is first and foremost a sign of life, of a Church that advances on her pilgrim way, of a Church that is living and for this reason semper reformanda, in need of reform because she is alive.

Here it must clearly be said that reform is not an end unto itself, but rather a process of growth and above all of conversion.

Consequently, the aim of reform is not aesthetic, an effort to improve the looks of the Curia, nor can it be understood as a sort of facelift, using make-up and cosmetics to embellish its aging body, nor even as an operation of plastic surgery to take away its wrinkles.

Dear brothers and sisters, it isn’t wrinkles we need to worry about in the Church, but blemishes!

Seen in this light, we need to realize that the reform will be effective only if it is carried out with men and women who are renewed and not simply new. We cannot be content simply with changing personnel, but need to encourage spiritual, human and professional renewal among the members of the Curia. The reform of the Curia is in no way implemented with a change of persons – something that certainly is happening and will continue to happen – but with a conversion in persons. Permanent formation is not enough; what we need also and above all is permanent conversion and purification. Without a change of mentality, efforts at practical improvement will be in vain.

That is why, in our last two meetings at Christmas, I discussed certain “diseases”, drawing on the teaching of the Desert Fathers (2014), and compiled, on the basis of the word “mercy”, a catalogue of virtues necessary for curial officials and all those who wish their consecration or service to the Church to become more fruitful (2015). The underlying reason is that, as in the case of the Church overall, the semper reformanda must also become, in the case of the Curia, a permanent personal and structural process of conversion.

It was necessary to speak of disease and cures because every surgical operation, if it is to be successful, must be preceded by detailed diagnosis and careful analysis, and needs to be accompanied and followed up by precise prescriptions.

In this process, it is normal, and indeed healthy, to encounter difficulties, which in the case of the reform, might present themselves as different types of resistance. There can be cases of open resistance, often born of goodwill and sincere dialogue, and cases of hidden resistance, born of fearful or hardened hearts content with the empty rhetoric of a complacent spiritual reform, on the part of those who say they are ready for change, but want everything to remain as it is. There are also cases of malicious resistance, which spring up in misguided minds and come to the fore when the devil inspires ill intentions (often cloaked in sheep’s clothing). This last kind of resistance hides behind words of self-justification and often accusation; it takes refuge in traditions, appearances, formalities, in the familiar, or else in a desire to make everything personal, failing to distinguish between the act, the actor, and the action.

The absence of reaction is a sign of death! Consequently, the good cases of resistance – and even those not quite so good – are necessary and merit being listened to, welcomed and their expression encouraged.

All this is to say that the reform of the Curia is a delicate process that has to take place in fidelity to essentials, with constant discernment, evangelical courage and ecclesial wisdom, careful listening, persevering action, positive silence and firm decisions. It requires much prayer, profound humility, farsightedness, concrete steps forward and – whenever necessary – even with steps backward, with determination, vitality, responsible exercise of power, unconditioned obedience, but above all by abandonment to the sure guidance of the Holy Spirit and trust in his necessary support.

De twaalf criteria zijn vooral: persoonlijke bekering, zin voor pastoraal, zin voor missionering, rationaliteit, functionaliteit, moderniteit, soberheid, subsidiariteit, synodaliteit, katholiciteit, professionalisme en geleidelijkheid.

1. Individualiteit (persoonlijke bekering)
Ik herhaal opnieuw het belang van de persoonlijke bekering zonder dewelke iedere verandering van structuren zinloos is. De ware ziel van de hervorming, zijn de mensen die eraan deelhebben en ze mogelijk maken. Persoonlijke bekering ondersteunt en versterkt namelijk de bekering van de gemeenschap.

De wisselwerking tussen de persoonlijke houding en de houding van de gemeenschap is een sterke band. Een enkele persoon kan veel goed doen aan heel het corps maar kan hem vooroordelen bezorgen en ziek maken. Een gezond corps kan zijn leden op krachten laten komen, opvangen, sterken, verzorgen en heiligen.

2. Zin voor pastoraal (pastorale bekering)
Aangezien de Curie een dienstbare gemeenschap is en herinnerend aan het beeld van de herder (Ez. 34, 16; Joh. 10, 1-21) [[b:Ez. 34, 16; Joh. 10, 1-21]], “doet het ook ons goed, die geroepen zijn om herder te zijn in de Kerk, dat we ons door het gelaat van God de Goede Herder laten verlichten, zuiveren en transformeren en ons geheel vernieuwd aan onze zending laten terugschenken. Mogen wij ook op ons werkterrein grote zin voor pastoraal voelen, ontplooien en in praktijk brengen, vooral tegenover degenen die wij dagelijks ontmoeten. Dat niemand zich veronachtzaamd of verkeerd behandeld voele, maar dat iedereen en vooral hier, de ervaring moge opdoen van de voorkomende zorg van de Goede Herder”. Paus: Zich in dienst stellen van God en goede herders zijn [[n:3494]] Paus opent consistorie met oproep tot eenheid [[n:3014]] Achter papieren staan personen.

De inzet van al het personeel van de Curie moet bezield zijn door zin voor pastoraal en een spiritualiteit van dienstbaarheid en gemeenschapszin, want dat is het tegengif voor alle vergif van verwaande ambitie en bedrieglijke rivaliteit. In die zin waarschuwde de zalige Paulus VI: “Dat de Romeinse Curie geen bureaucratie zou zijn, zoals sommigen ten onrechte menen, pretentieus en antipathiek, uitsluitend juridisch en ritualistisch, noch een school van verborgen ambities en dove rivaliteiten, zoals anderen haar beschuldigen; moge zij daarentegen een ware gemeenschap zijn van geloof en liefde, gebed en werk; een gemeenschap van broeders en zonen van de paus die alles doen, met respect voor de competentie van de ander en met zin voor samenwerking, om hem dienstbaar te zijn doorheen zijn dienst aan de broeders en zonen van de universele Kerk en de hele aarde”. Quali Siano [[3093]]

3. Zin voor missionering (Christocentrisme)
"dat de opdracht om alle mensen te evangeliseren de wezenlijke zending uitmaakt van de Kerk", een opdracht en een zending die de weidse en diepgaande veranderingen van de huidige maatschappij niet minder urgent maken. {...} De gemeenschap van de christenen is inderdaad nooit in zichzelf opgesloten. In haar komt het innerlijk leven - het leven van gebed, het luisteren naar het Woord en naar de verkondiging van de Apostelen, de beleving van de broederlijke liefde en het breken van het brood - niet aan zijn volle betekenis toe tenzij het getuigenis wordt, bewondering afroept en bekering bewerkt, tot prediking en verkondiging wordt van de Blijde Boodschap. Zo ontvangt de hele Kerk de zending tot evangeliseren, en ieders werk is van belang voor het geheel." [[519|14-15]] “wij niet passief afwachtend in onze kerken kunnen blijven zitten” en dat het noodzakelijk is “dat men van een louter conservatieve pastoraal overgaat op een beslist missionaire pastoraal” [[4984|15]] Evangeliseren is inderdaad de eigen genade en roeping van de Kerk. Zij vindt daarin haar diepste identiteit. Zij bestaat om te evangeliseren,

Dat is het belangrijkste doel van elke dienst binnen de Kerk, die erin bestaat de blijde boodschap te brengen tot aan de uiteinden van de aarde, vgl: Non bisogna perdere la tensione per l’annuncio a coloro che sono lontani da Cristo, perché questo è il primo compito della Chiesa [[[4|34]]] zoals het leergezag van het concilie ons in herinnering brengt, want “er zijn kerkelijke structuren die een evangeliserende dynamiek in de hand kunnen werken; goede structuren zijn ook nuttig wanneer het leven ze bezielt, steunt en leidt. Zonder nieuw leven en een authentieke evangelische geest, zonder trouw van de Kerk aan haar eigen roeping, wordt iedere nieuwe structuur in korte tijd corrupt”. Evangelii Gaudium [[4984|26]]

4. Rationaliteit
Op basis van het principe volgens hetwelk alle dicasteria juridisch onderling gelijk zijn, is een rationalisatie van de organismen van de Romeinse Curie noodzakelijk om het feit te belichten vgl: §1 [[[1311|(1)]]] vgl: §2 [[[577|2]]] dat elk dicasterium eigen competenties heeft. Deze competenties moeten gerespecteerd worden maar ook rationeel verdeeld, met bekwaamheid en doeltreffend. Geen enkel dicasterium kan zich dus de competentie – die door het recht bepaald is - van een ander dicasterium toeëigenen, en anderzijds verwijzen alle dicasteria rechtstreeks naar de Paus.

5. Functionaliteit
Twee of meer dicasteria, die competent zijn in een materie die met elkaar verwant is of die met elkaar in nauwe betrekkingen staan, eventueel tot één enkel dicasterium hergroeperen, is enerzijds om aan het dicasterium in kwestie meer belang te verlenen (ook naar buiten toe); anderzijds werken hun verwantschap en de interactie van hun eigenheid binnen één dicasterium, een grotere functionaliteit in de hand. Functionaliteit veronderstelt ook een voortdurende revisie van de rollen, competenties en verantwoordelijkheid van het personeel en bijgevolg ook de invoering van veranderingen, aanwervingen, verbreking en bevordering.

6. Moderniteit (Aggiornamento - bij de tijd brengen)
Dat wil zeggen de bekwaamheid om de tekenen van de tijd te lezen en beluisteren. In die zin “nemen wij zonder uitstel de noodzakelijke maatregelen om de dicasteria van de Romeinse Curie conform te maken aan de situatie van onze tijd en zich aan te passen aan de noden van de universele Kerk”. Sedula Mater [[6414]] Dit werd door Vaticanum II [d:4] gevraagd: “Dat de dicasteria van de Romeinse Curie zouden onderworpen worden aan een nieuwe organisatie die meer verband houdt met de noden van de tijd, van landen en riten, meer bepaald wat hun aantal, naam, competentie, werkmethode en de coördinatie van hun werkzaamheden betreft”. Christus Dominus [[646|9]]

7. Soberheid
In dit perspectief zijn een vereenvoudiging en verlichting van de Curie noodzakelijk: hergroepering of versmelting van de dicasteria volgens de materie van hun competentie en de interne vereenvoudiging van elk dicasterium; eventuele afschaffing van bureaus die niet meer beantwoorden aan de behoeften van het ogenblik. Integratie in de dicasteria of vermindering van commissies, academies, comités enz. … dit alles met het oog op de onmisbare soberheid die noodzakelijk is voor een juist en authentiek getuigenis.

8. Subsidiariteit
Reorganisatie van de specifieke competenties van de verschillende dicasteria, wat zo noodzakelijk is wanneer ze van één dicasterium naar een ander overgebracht worden, om de autonomie, coördinatie en subsidiariteit van competenties te bekomen, evenals hun onderling verband in de dienstbaarheid.

In die zin is respect voor de subsidiariteitsprincipes en de principes voor de rationalisering van de betrekkingen met en in het Staatssecretariaat [d:105] – tussen zijn verschillende competenties – eveneens nodig opdat het Staatssecretariaat bij het vervullen van zijn functies, de meest rechtstreekse hulp van de Paus Tra le funzioni del.. Tra le funzioni del Segretario di Stato, quale primo collaboratore del Sommo Pontefice nell’esercizio della sua suprema missione ed esecutore delle scelte che il Papa fa con l’aiuto degli organi di consultazione, dovrebbe essere preminente la periodica e frequente riunione con i Capi Dicastero. In ogni caso sono di primaria necessità il coordinamento e la collaborazione dei Dicasteri tra di loro e con gli altri Uffici. zou zijn en ook opdat er een betere coördinatie zou zijn van de verschillende sectoren van de dicasteria en bureaus van de Curie. Het Staatssecretariaat zal deze belangrijke en eigen functie juist kunnen vervullen door de eenheid, onderlinge afhankelijkheid en coördinatie van zijn secties en sectoren te realiseren.

9. Synodaliteit
De werkzaamheid van de Curie moet synodaal zijn: gewone vergaderingen van het hoofd van elk dicasterium worden voorgezeten door de Paus vgl: Pastor Bonus [[[577|22]]]; regelmatige audiënties met het hoofd van elk dicasterium; gewone vergaderingen tussen de dicasteria. Door het aantal dicasteria te beperken, zullen meer en meer systematische ontmoetingen kunnen plaatshebben van de prefecten met de paus evenals vergaderingen van het hoofd van de verschillende dicasteria, wat niet het geval kan zijn als de groep te talrijk is.

Synodaliteit vgl: Una Chiesa sinodale è una Chiesa dell’ascolto [[[6160]]] vgl: Evangelii Gaudium [[[4984|171]]] Tappe dell’ascolto per la.. Tappe dell’ascolto per la riforma della Curia sono state: 1. Raccolta di pareri nell’estate 2013: dai Capi Dicastero e altri; dai Cardinali del Consiglio; da singoli Vescovi e Conferenze Episcopali dell’area territoriale di provenienza; 2. Riunione dei Capi Dicastero del 10 settembre 2013 e del 24 novembre 2014; 3. Concistoro del 12-13 febbraio 2015; 4. Lettera del Consiglio dei Cardinali ai Capi Dicastero del 17 settembre 2014 per eventuali “decentramenti”; 5. Interventi di singoli Capi Dicastero nelle riunioni del Consiglio dei Cardinali per richiesta di proposte e pareri per la riforma del singolo Dicastero (cfr. Marcello Semeraro, La riforma di Papa Francesco, Il Regno, pp. 433 – 441). moet er ook zijn binnen elk dicasterium door bijzonder belang te verlenen aan de congresso en ten minste de gewone zitting veelvuldiger te laten plaatsvinden. In elk dicasterium dient fragmentatie vermeden te worden, die door meerdere factoren kan veroorzaakt worden zoals toename van gespecialiseerde sectoren die autoreferentieel kunnen worden. De coördinatie tussen deze moet gebeuren door de secretaris of ondersecretaris.

10. Katholiciteit
Onder de medewerkers, naast de priesters en vrouwelijke of mannelijke Godgewijden, moet de Curie haar katholiciteit weerspiegelen door personeel aan te werven uit de hele wereld, permanente diakens en leken gelovigen waarvan de keuze zorgvuldig moet gebeuren op grond van hun onberispelijk spiritueel en moreel leven en hun professionele competentie. Het is passend dat zij toegankelijkheid wordt van een groter aantal leken gelovigen, vooral in de dicasteria waar leken competenter kunnen zijn dan geestelijken of Godgewijden. De valorisatie van de rol van de vrouw en de leken in het leven van de Kerk, hun integratie in elk dicasterium, bijzondere aandacht voor multiculturaliteit, zijn eveneens van groot belang.

11. Professionaliteit
Een permanent vormingsbeleid van het personeel binnen elk dicasterium is onmisbaar om te vermijden dat men vastroest en terechtkomt in de routine van het functionalisme.

Anderzijds moet definitief een einde gemaakt worden aan de praktijk van promoveatur ut amoveatur, die als een kanker is.

12. Geleidelijkheid (onderscheiding)
Geleidelijkheid is de vrucht van onmisbare onderscheiding die een proces in de tijd impliceert en maat geeft aan tijden, etappes, controle, correctie, experimenten, goedkeuring ad experimentum. Het gaat in deze gevallen dus niet over onbeslistheid maar over de nodige flexibiliteit om een ware hervorming te kunnen bereiken.

I will now mention briefly and concisely some steps already taken to put into practice these guiding principles and the recommendations made by the Cardinals in the plenary meetings before the Conclave, by the COSEA, by the Council of Cardinals (C9), and by the Heads of the Dicasteries and other experts and individuals:

- On 13 April 2013 it was announced [n:1917] that the Raad van Kardinalen [d:85] (Consilium Cardinalium Summo Pontifici) – the C8 and, after 1 July 2014, the C9 – was created, primarily to counsel the Pope on the governance of the universal Church and on other related topics The pace of the work involved.. The pace of the work involved the members of the Council in a total of 93 meetings, morning and afternoon., also with the specific task of proposing the revision of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus [577] The working sessions of the.. The working sessions of the Council have presently been more than sixteen (on average, one every two months), as follows: 1st session, 1-3 October 2013; 2ndsession, 3-5 December 2013; 3rd session, 17-19 February 2014; 4th session, 28-30 April 2014; 5th session, 1-4 July 2014; 6th session, 15-17 September 2014; 7thsession, 9-11 December 2014; 8th session, 9-11 February 2015; 9th session, 13-15 March 2015; 10th session, 8-10 June 2015; 11th session, 14-16 September 2015; 12th session, 20-12 December 2015, 13th session, 8-9 February 2016, 14th session, 11-13 April 2016; 15th session, 6-8 June 2016, 16th session, 12-14 September 2016; 17th session, 12-14 December 2016..

- With the Chirograph of 24 June 2013, the Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Institute for Works of Religion [5431] was established, in order to study the legal status of the IOR and to allow for its greater ”harmonization” with “the universal mission of the Apostolic See”. This was “to ensure that economic and financial activities be permeated by Gospel principles” and to achieve a complete and acknowledged transparency in its operation.

- With the Motu Proprio of 11 July 2013 [4990], provisions were made to define the jurisdiction of the judicial authorities of Vatican City State in criminal matters.

- With the Chirograph of 18 July 2013 [5445], the COSEA (Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Organization of the Economic-Administrative Structure) was instituted and given the task of research, analysis and the gathering of information, in cooperation with the Council of Cardinals [d:85] for the study of the organizational and economic problems of the Holy See.

- With the Motu Proprio of 8 August 2013 [5432], the Holy See’s Financial Security Committee was established for the prevention and countering of money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This was to bring the IOR and the entire Vatican economic system to the regular adoption of, and fully committed and diligent compliance with, all international legal norms on financial transparency.

- With the Motu Proprio of 15 November 2013 [5443], the Financial Intelligence Authority (AIF), established by Benedict XVI with his Motu Proprio of 30 December 2010 for the prevention and countering of illegal activities in the area of monetary and financial dealings, was consolidated.

- With the Motu Proprio 24 February 2014 ( Fidelis et dispensator Prudens [1334]), the Secretariat for the Economy and the Council for the Economy were established to replace the Council of 15 Cardinals, with the task of harmonizing the policies of control in regard to the economic management of the Holy See and the Vatican City.

- With the same Motu Proprio of 24 February 2014 [1334], the Office of General Auditor (URG) was established as a new agency of the Holy See, charged with auditing the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, the institutions connected with to the Holy See or associated with it, and the administrations of the Governatorate of Vatican City.

- With the Chirograph of 22 March 2014 [5446], the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors was established, in order “to promote the protection of the dignity of minors and vulnerable adults, using the forms and methods, consonant with the nature of the Church, which they consider most appropriate”.

- With the Motu Proprio of 8 July 2014 [5550], the Ordinary Section of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See was transferred to the Secretariat for the Economy.

- On 22 February 2015, the Statutes of the new economic agencies were approved.

- With the Motu Proprio of 27 June 2015 [5967], the Secretariat for Communication was established and charged “to respond to the current context of communication, characterized by the presence and evolution of digital media, and by factors of convergence and interactivity”. The Secreariat was also charged with overall restructuring, through a process of reorganization and merging, of “all the realities which in various ways up to the present have dealt with communications”, so as to “respond ever better to the needs of the mission of the Church”

- On 6 September 2016, the Statutes of the Secretariat for Communication were promulgated; they took effect last October.

With the two Motu Proprios of 15 August 2015, provisions were made for the reform of the canonical process in cases of declaration of marital nullity: Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus [6048] for the Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches, and Mitis et Misericors Iesus [6049] for the Code of Canon Law.

- With the Motu Proprio of 4 June 2016 ( Come una madre amorevole [6363]), an effort was made to prevent negligence on the part of bishops in the exercise of their office, especially with regard to cases of the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults.

- With the Motu Proprio of 15 August 2016 ( Sedula Mater [6414]), the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life was established, in the light of the general pastoral purpose of the Petrine ministry: “I hasten to arrange all things necessary in order that the richness of Christ Jesus may be poured forth appropriately and profusely among the faithful”.

- With the Motu Proprio of 17 August 2016 ( Humanam progressionem [6429]), the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development was established, so that development can take place “by attending to the inestimable goods of justice, peace and the care of creation”. Beginning in January 2017, four Pontifical Councils - Justice and Peace, Cor Unum, the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, and Healthcare Workers – will be merged into this Dicastery. For the time being, I will directly head the section for the pastoral care of migrants in the new Dicastery.

- On 18 October 2016, the Statutes of the Pontifical Academy for Life were approved.

Our meeting today began by speaking of the meaning of Christmas as the overturning of our human criteria, in order to emphasize that the heart and centre of the reform is Christ (Christocentrism).

I would like to conclude simply with a word and a prayer. The word is to reiterate that Christmas is the feast of God’s loving humility. The prayer is the Christmas message of Father Matta el Meskin, a monk of our time, who, addressing the Lord Jesus born in Bethlehem, said: “If for us the experience of (your) infancy is so difficult, it is not so for you, O Son of God. If we stumble along the way that leads to communion with you because of your smallness, you are capable of removing all the obstacles that prevent us from doing this. We know that you will not be at peace until you find us in your likeness and with this (same) smallness. Allow us today, O Son of God, to draw dear to your heart. Grant that we may not consider ourselves great in our experiences. Grant us instead to become small like you, so that we can draw near to you and receive from you abundant humility and meekness. Do not deprive us of your revelation, the epiphany of your infancy in our hearts, so that with it we can heal all our pride and all our arrogance. We greatly need… for you to reveal in us your simplicity, by drawing us, and indeed the Church and the whole world, to yourself. Our world is weary and exhausted, because everyone is vying to see who is the greatest. There is a ruthless competition between governments, churches, peoples, within families, from one parish to another: Who of us is the greatest? The world is festering with painful wounds because of this great illness: Who is the greatest? But today we have found in you, O Son of God, our one medicine. We, and the whole world, will not find salvation or peace unless we go back to encounter you anew in the manger of Bethlehem. Amen.

Thank you, and I wish you a Holy Christmas and a Blessed New Year 2017!

Two years ago, when I spoke of illnesses, one of you came up and asked me: “Where do I have to go… to the pharmacy or to confession?”. “Well… both!”, I replied. And when I greeted Cardinal Brandmüller, he looked me in the eye and said: “Acquaviva!” At the time, I didn’t understand, but, later, thinking about it, I recalled that Acquaviva, the fifth Father General of the Society of Jesus, had written a book that we students read in Latin. The spiritual directors made us read it and it was entitled: Industriae pro Superioribus ejusdem Societatis ad curandos animae morbos, that is, on curing illnesses of the soul. Three months ago, a very good edition came out in Italian, done by the late Father Giuliano Raffo, with a good introduction. It is not a critical edition, but it is a very fine translation, very well done, and I believe it could be helpful. As a Christmas gift, I would like to give it to each of you. Thank you.

(Blessing).