The Holy Father Pope Francis squared up to the Church bureaucracy that has been attempting to stifle the ministry of the Catholic faith for centuries. He told a group of Cardinals, Bishops and Priests who work in the Curia that they have "spiritual Alzeheimer's" and that they forgot that their true calling is to "be joyful men of God."
He then proceeded to list 15 sins that he has noticed in the Curia and that he wants atonement and reparation for in the coming year 2015. Among them were the "terrorism of gossip" which he claims can "kill the reputation of our colleagues and brothers in cold blood." Also, "cliques" which he said can "enslave their members and become a cancer that threatens the harmony of the body."
I applaud Pope Francis for being bold and admonishing the sinner, so to speak. He is absolutely correct. For far too long there has been an atmosphere of gossip, careerism, thirst for power and cliques which has destroyed the spiritual lives of both clergy and lay. Instead of seeing the Bride of Christ, the world is seeing the "whore of Babylon" who sleeps with the world. This is not what the Catholic Church should look like. We should not make our fallen human nature the way of life. Instead, we must replace it with Christ as the way of life.
It bothers me to see Catholic clergy and lay bloggers attack the Pope and others because they see them as "liberal" while they describe themselves as "conservative." The Church is not about liberals or conservatives. This clique nonsense has to stop. We are ONE body in Christ with different functions within that body. There shouldn't be competition, gossip or anything of the like in this body. The Pope is correct in describing this as a Cancer. Cancer is a mutation of cells which alienates itself from other cells eventually outgrowing and destroying those cells. Normal and healthy cells work together.
Let us pray for a renewal in the Church starting from the top down. Let the "trickle-down holiness" begin.