Papa Ratzinger's imprint
on the Roman Curia:
Four years of choice and renewal
From the Secretariat of State to the Congregations and Pontifical Councils,
here are the appointments that belie the charge of 'immobilism'
by GIANNI CARDINALE
Translated from
June 17, 2009
Periodically, one reads or hears observations and lamentations on a very specific aspect - but one that undoubtedly whets media appetites - of this Pontificate: that of appointments to the Roman Curia.
Usually, it is noted that these appointments are rather slow in coming. But is it really so? In absolute terms, each person may have his own opinion. But if one ventures to compare the statistics in the first four years of Benedict XVI's 'reign' with the similar period for John Paul II, one discovers that insofar as changes in the leadership of the Curial dicasteries, Papa Ratzinger has not been any slower than his predecessor. On the contrary.
From 2005 to the present, Benedict XVI named a new Secretary of State (Cardinal Bertone) and new prefects for six out of nine Congregations: William J. Levada for the Doctrine of the Faith, in May 2005; Ivan Dias, for the Evangelization of Peoples in May 2006; Claudio Hummes, for the Clergy in October 2006; Leonardo Sandri, for Oriental Churches, in June 2007; Antonio Canizares Llovera for Divine Worship in December 2008; and Angelo Amato, for Causes of Sainthood, in July 2008.
Between 1978-1982, John Paul II made the same number of appointments:
Agostino Casaroli, as Secretary of State, in 1979; Joseph Ratzinger, for the Doctrine of the Faith, in 1981; Wladyslaw Rubin, for Oriental Churches in 1980; Giuseppe Casoria, for Divine Worship in 1981; Pietro Palazzini, for Causes of Sainthood in 1980; Silvio Oddi, for the Clergy in 1979; and William W. Baum, for Catholic Education in 1980.
One must add that John Paul II was helped along in making changes because two Curial heads died while still in office: Cardinal Jean Villot, who was Secretary of State (inherited from Paul VI) died at age 74, and John Wright of Clergy died at age 70.
Papa Ratzinger has not yet changed the prefects of the Congregations for Bishops (Giovanni Battista Re), nstitutes of Apostolic Life (Franc Rode), and Zenon Grocholewski (Catholic Education).
John Paul II, after four years, also had not yet replaced three prefects: Bishops (Sebastiano Reggio), Evangelization of Peoples (Angelo Rossi), and Apostolic Life (Eduardo Pironio).
But one may note a difference in the number of Italians named to available posts - 2 out of 7 for Papa Ratzinger against 4 out of 7 for John Paul II.
It is also said that under Benedict, too many Curial heads are overstaying the age-75 canonical retirement age. But this also happened under Papa Wojtyla - Corrado Bafile who headed Causes of Sainthood till he was 77, Gabriel Garrone who remained at Catholic Education to age 79, as did Joseph Ratzinger himself at CDF and Cardinal Sodano as Secretary of State till they were 78.
{All of them staying on at John Paul II's insistence, one presumes, as it was with Cardinal Ratzinger.]
It was only in 1984, six years after he became Pope, that John Paul II 'replaced' in one sweep the remaining three congregation heads he had inherited from Paul VI (Bishops, Evangelization, Consecrated Life) even if they had not reached age 75.
To the three tribunals of the Roman Curia, Benedict XVI named Fortunato Baldelli as Major Penitentiary last June 2 and Mons Raymond Burke as Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura in June 2008. He has not changed the Dean of the Roman Rota, Antoni Stankiewicz.
In the first four years of John Paul II, he did not change the Major Penitentiary, while the sudden death of Pericle Felici at age 71 led to the appointment of Aurelio Sabattani to replace him, and in the same year, the deanship of the Roman Rota was turned over from Heinrich Evers to Arturo Di Iorio.
With respect to the presidents of the Pontifical Councils, Benedict XVI has replaced those of all the councils created at the time of John Paul II: Francesco Coccopalmiero to Legislative Texts in February 2007; Gianfranco Ravasi to Culture in September 2007; Antonio Veglio to Migrants and Workers in February 2008; Ennio Antonelli to the Council for the Family in June 2008; and Zygmunt Zymowski to the Pastoral Ministry for Healthcare Workers, in April 2009 - in this case favoring Italians 4 to 1.
Of the older Pontifical Councils, Benedict XVI has named only two, both in June 2007 - Jean-Louis Tauran to Inter-Religious Dialog, and Claudio Maria Celli to Social Communications. Those who remain in office from the Wojtyla era are the presidents of the Councils for the Laity (Stanyslaw Rylko), Christian Unity (Walter Kasper), Justice and Peace (Raffaele Martino), and Cor Unum (Paul Cordes), of whom Kasper and Martino will soon be turning 75.
For these last six Councils, John Paul II named only one new president between 1978-1982 - Inter-Religious Dialog, after the death of Sergio Pignedoli at age 70 in 1980. The others were subsequently replaced, whereas Johannes Willebrand remained at Christian Unity until he turned 80 in 1989.
In the three administrative offices of the Roman Curia, Benedict XVI named Bertone Papal Chamberlain in April 2007, and Velasio De Paulis as president of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See in April 2008, while retaining Attilio Nicora at the Patrimony of the Holy See (APSA).
In this case, John Paul II was relatively 'fast'. He named Paolo Bertoli as Chamberlain in 1979 and Giuseppe Caprio as president of APSA at the death of Cardinal Villot who had held these two other posts as well. At the start of 1981, Caprio became Prefect of Economic Affairs to replace Egidio Vagnozzi, who died.
Thus, if one takes into account the leadership of the 28 dicasteries which make up the Roman Curia, one will note that Benedict XVI in four years has named 17, or 60.7%; while John Paul II between 1978 and 1982, changed 13 of the 22 leadership positions then existent, or 59.1%.
[That's a statistical tie!]
So from the numbers, Benedict XVI has not been as slow as he is made out to be with Curial changes. Certainly, he has not been slower than his predecessor in a comparable period who, in fairness, did not know as much about the Curia as did Cardinal Ratzinger when he became Pope.
But whether or how much Papa Ratzinger considers internal balances in the Roman Curia decisive for the future of the Church is another story altogether.