Monday, December 22, 2014

Pope Francis Critical Of Papal Bureacracy

In his Christmas message, Pope Francis was critical of the Papal Bureaucracy at the Vatican that surrounds him.  His mostly Italian minions were accused of lusting for power, gossiping, back biting etc. etc.  This was actually a very funny homily because it could probably be said of any governing bureaucracy.  What the Pope should have recognized is that big government never works and is inherently corrupt, corrupting and inefficient.  Instead of scolding the Curia, the Pope should have decentralized power and gotten rid of most of it.  It is the centralized form of government of the Catholic Church, presumably run by an infallible Pope, like all federal governments that is the problem.

The Pope needs to divest more power to local Bishops and even to priests, the same way the federal government of the United States, should allow the States more control over their monies, lands and government services.  Pope Francis stated the obvious in his criticism of the Curia in Rome; but it is no different than what is common in Washington, London, Paris or any other Capital in the world.  Big government of any kind is wasteful.  And, the tendencies that the Pope described is common among all bureaucrats feeding at the trough. 

The last time this sort of thing came up, there was the Protestant Reformation, which was really a revolution against that Catholic Church, run from Rome by corrupt Popes and bureaucrats.  The political revolutions that have happened throughout history usually happened for the very same reasons.  Dictatorial leaders and bureaucrats that profited from their positions resulted in uprisings, sometimes violent and sometimes peaceful like the Tea Party Movement in the United States.  Pope Francis has it right in criticizing the Curia in Rome; but he has yet to offer the solution, which is decentralizing power and cutting the size of church government.  

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