Pope declares himself bound by pre-election agreements

Sandro Magister, "Vatican Diary / 'I follow what the cardinals asked'" (www.chiesa, July 1, 2014). Magister reviews the strictures against agreements connected to the election of a pope, which are declared illicit and invalid, and concludes that although there appears to have been no condition or stipulation placed on the pope's actions following his election, "in essence the results have been close." Pope Francis is quoted thusly:

"On the program [of ecclesiastical governance] I follow what the cardinals asked during the general congregations before the conclave. I go in that direction. The council of eight cardinals, an external organism, emerged from there. It was requested to help in reforming the curia. This moreover is not easy because there is a step forward but then it emerges that this or that must be done, and if before there was one dicastery there then become four. My decisions are the fruit of the pre-conclave meetings. I have done nothing alone."