Sluggish & recalcitrant Vatican bureaucracy

Paul VI described the Roman Curia in 1967, the year of his reform, as “a pretentious and sluggish bureaucracy, entirely wrapped in rule and ritual, a breeding ground for ambition and sordid antagonism.”

While there are no signs of such a sweeping reform as Paul VI undertook in the fifth year of his pontificate in the present Curia, there is every evidence that it is as hopelessly inert as ever.

Sandro Magister addresses the issue of Vatican inertia in "Roman Curia: The Reform That Isn't There" (www.chiesa, June 29, 2007) writes:

Appointments made at a snail's pace. Documents that are useless or continually delayed. Offices drifting aimlessly. Why the renewal of the Vatican bureaucracy is not a priority for Benedict XVI.

I'm reminded of the words of the 14th century Jewish merchant, Abraham, about the church in Rome to the Archbishop of Paris after returning from a business trip to Rome in Boccaccio's Decameron: "No earthly business that stupid and corrupt could last fourteen weeks. Your Church has lasted fourteen centuries. It must have God behind it." Miserere Domine.