( CNN ) -- The late House Speaker Tip O'Neill once said , `` All politics is local . '' Certainly there is some truth to this in the Roman Catholic Church . Most practicing Catholics experience the church through the parish they attend , and its sacramental life through the priests who minister there . Those priests are ordained for a particular diocese that exists , along with others , within a particular geographic area administered by its local bishop . That bishop is named by the Pope , but it is the Vatican Congregation for Bishops in Rome that has major influence in determining who is selected as a bishop and where he is assigned to administrate . And this is where Pope Francis is making his agenda felt this week . By removing the American Cardinals Raymond Burke and Justin Rigali from the Congregation for Bishops and appointing Cardinal Donald Wuerl , he is signaling the most radical kind of change -- one that will affect the church 's hierarchical structure from top to bottom . It is bishops who determine the tenor and emphases of local church communities . The Congregation for Bishops is being peopled by a different kind of person , who will implement Francis ' vision of a church governed as much by compassion as by orthodoxy . This is a big deal . While Burke champions traditional marriage , condemns abortion and cherishes fine vestments , Rigali appeared less sensitive to the gravity of the priest-pedophilia tragedy , positions associated with Roman Catholic conservatives . By removing these men , Francis is shifting emphasis and establishing different priorities . But Wuerl is hardly a liberal . While the new bishop of Pittsburgh deviated from his predecessor 's practice of washing only men 's feet and included women at the Holy Thursday service , a gesture associated with Jesus ' serving his disciples , he also accepted Rome 's request to serve as coadjutor of the Diocese of Seattle when its bishop expressed views regarding homosexuality , divorce and the priesthood that Rome considered too liberal . He also was executive secretary of a papally mandated study of U.S. seminaries . So he is not so easily pigeonholed as either liberal or conservative . He takes pastoral initiative , seeming to believe that `` authentic power is service , '' as Francis has said , but he is also a loyal son . Described in a 2013 National Catholic Reporter article as `` dead center of the bishops ' conference , '' he is reported as saying , `` In the pulpit we 're supposed to present the teaching with all of its unvarnished clarity , but when you step out of the pulpit , you have to meet people where they are and try to walk with them . '' Francis has reconstituted the Congregation for Bishops beyond the replacement of two American prelates . All of his new appointments to the congregation , we may be sure , accord with his perspective : Compassion and solidarity are at the forefront . He prioritizes the hopes and the anguish of the people he seeks to serve rather than abstract right teaching . Consistent with Francis ' own witness to date and his efforts so far to renew the Curia ( the Vatican bureaucracy ) , this appointment of carefully selected men to the Congregation for Bishops , men who share his priorities , may well be the most powerful tool available to him to effect far-reaching and sustained change -- in every parish throughout the entire world . In his book `` Pope Francis : Why He Leads the Way He Leads , '' Chris Lowney begins each chapter with a quotation from Francis . These speak eloquently to why Burke and Rigali have been replaced , not for anything bad they have done but because of the new emphasis Francis desires to bring to his papacy . Introducing `` The New Leader '' chapter : `` Today 's world stands in great need of witnesses , not so much of teachers but rather of witnesses . It 's not so much about speaking , but speaking with our whole lives . '' Perhaps this is why Francis shared his birthday breakfast Tuesday with four homeless men . For Chapter 4 , `` Washing Feet : Authentic Power Is Service '' : `` This is a symbol , it is a sign . ... Washing feet means , ' I am at your service . ' As a priest and as a bishop I must be at your service . '' Was it not at an Italian prison that Francis washed feet last Holy Thursday , including the feet of Muslim girls ? A third and telling quotation is taken from Francis ' address to Brazilian bishops in July : `` ( U ) nless we train ministers capable of warming people 's hearts , of walking with them in the night , of dialoguing with their hopes and disappointments , of mending their brokenness , what hope can we have for our present and future journey ? '' No doubt Francis wants to guarantee that those who are appointed bishops are in accord with this perspective . Francis , as he has presented himself , is neither conservative nor liberal . He is not about ideology but about the Gospel . Matthew 25 comes readily to mind : Feed the hungry , give drink to the thirsty , welcome the stranger , cloth the naked , care for the sick , visit those in prison -- as do the admonitions in Matthew 7:1 : `` Judge not , that you may not be judged , '' and 1 Colossians 3:13 : `` As the Lord has forgiven you , so you must also do . '' The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Alice L. Laffey .
Alice Laffey : Pope signals radical change by upending Congregation of Bishops . She says congregation helps pick bishops , who will implement Francis ' vision . She says mandate not about politics but compassion and solidarity with those served . Laffey : This is powerful tool for him to effect far-reaching , sustained change around world .