Coffee shops abuzz over curial reforms

hen Pope Benedict XVI appointed Cardinal Ivan Dias of Bombay, to head the Congregation for the Evangelisation of the Peoples last week, gasps could be heard in the coffee shops around the Vatican. Could this be the first wave of Pope Benedict XVI's "Curial Tsunami", so long predicted? If this is a promotion for Cardinal Dim, is it a demotion for his predecessor Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, who now becomes Archbishop of Naples? To start with, this is not the first significant change that Benedict XVI has made to the Roman Curia. That happened two months ago when the Holy Father altered the leadership of four pontifical councils. It is, however, an important appointment. Congregations are the most senior and influential dicasteries of the curia and this one particularly so, responsible for the running of the "mission churches" that number a third of all dioceses around the world. But while this is a promotion for Cardinal Dias, this is not necessarily a demotion for Cardinal Sepe. [he Italian cardinal's organisational and decision-making abilities will be much needed as he heads the fourth largest Italian diocese after Milan, Rome and Turin. He also has the difficult role of taking over from Cardinal Michele Giordano, a prelate whose many diocesan initiatives were overshadowed by charges of financial impropriety. But beyond these immediate questions lies a more interesting aspect: how it reveals the future direction of Pope Benedict's pontificate. Cardinal Dias is the second non-Italian the Pope has chosen to fill an important curial position (the first was the secretary at the Congregation for Divine Worship, Sri Lankan Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don). Usually the curia is top-heavy with Italians, but Benedict seems keen to widen his scope and choose international prelates from rising continents such as Asia. It is also clear that Benedict believes the wisest way to reform the curia is to do so slowly. Rather than a game of musical chairs, he sees the process as primarily a spiritual one through which the rest of the Church can be purified. The next major appointment, say some observers, will be a new Secretary of State (essentially the Pope's deputy) to replace Cardinal Angelo Sodano, 78. That will certainly get the coffee shops buzzing.
Hot on the heels of his letter to US President George Bush, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is reportedly scribbling a letter to Pope Benedict XVI. According to the Iranian newspaper Jomhuri-ye Eslami, which is reportedly close to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah All Khamenei, "Ahmadinejad's second letter is addressed to Pope Benedict and will be sent in the next few day." The newspaper cited anonymous sources close to Khamenei but was unable to disclose the letter's contents. Last week, Morteza Jaryan, , press attache at the Iranian Embassy to the Holy See, said there had been "rumours" about such a letter, but could not confirm that it existed.
Sending letters to heads of state and world figureheads is a Muslim tradition that goes back to the time of Mohammed. The last Iranian leader to do so was Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei who, in 1989, sent a letter to Mikhail Gorbachev in the hope that, as Communism collapsed, the Soviet leader might escape the clasps of the "Great Satan" (the United States). Mr Gorbachev resisted, and the Ayatollah died soon afterwards.
Now, Mr Ahmadinejad is reviving the tradition and is said to be preparing letters for a number of world leaders. In his letter to Mr Bush he made many sympathetic references to Christianity in an attempt to draw out what he saw as inconsistencies between the President's faith and his policies. It tended to ramble on in a quasi-fanatical manner. And, although its pleas for social justice for the poor could have come straight from the Catechism, it was rather let down by its vitriol against Israel and hints that the September llth atrocity was a conspiracy masterminded by the Bush Administration.
A more amicable and reasonable letter to Pope Benedict is expected.