Pope convenes new cabinet to oversee reform

Francis convened his own parallel cabinet of eight cardinals from around the globe for three days of brainstorming on revamping the Vatican bureaucracy and other reforms. The move fulfils a key mandate of the cardinals who elected him pope to involve local church leaders in making decisions about the universal church.

On the same day the meetings started, Rome daily La Repubblica published a lengthy interview with Francis, his second in as many weeks. He denounced the “Vatican-centric” nature of the Holy See administration and acknowledged that popes past had been infatuated with the pomp of the Vatican and its “courtesans”.

The pope also explained his affinity for his namesake St Francis, whose tomb he will visit on Friday during a visit to Assisi, the hilltop town where St Francis preached his gospel of poverty and caring for the most destitute.

Francis said he wanted a missionary church like that sought by St Francis: “We need to give hope to young people, help the aged and open ourselves toward the future and spread love.”

He said the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meetings that brought the church into the modern world, had promised such an opening to people of other faiths and non-believers, but that the church had not made progress since then.

The agenda of the cardinal cabinet meetings is unknown, but one issue is certain to be discussed: overhauling the Vatican bureaucracy, an antiquated administration that is universally disparaged as unhelpful to both the pope and the bishops it is designed to serve.

The scandal over leaked documents last year showed the Vatican bureaucracy to be a dysfunctional warren of political infighting and turf battles, fuelling calls for reform from the cardinals who elected Francis pope.