Magister's insights on the recent changes in the Curia

Sandro Magister takes a look at the recent changes in the Curia, beginning with the new secretary of state Bertone:

Bertone is not a career diplomat – as almost all the secretaries of state have been in recent centuries - but he comes from the ranks of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, of which he was the secretary from 1995 to 2003. He was the number two man, with Joseph Ratzinger as prefect, and now he is again becoming the main collaborator of the new pope.

It is an historic vindication for the Holy Office. Called by this name until the 1960’s, the congregation was referred to within the Vatican as “la Suprema.” Its highest official was the pope himself, and the rest of the curia hinged upon it.

But then came Paul VI, and the secretariat of state became the central axis of the curia. With John Paul II, who had little interest in Church governance, the power of the secretariat of state in the Church’s internal and external affairs grew even greater. It is no surprise that in the last change of the papacy, the two head honchos of diplomacy and of the curia – cardinals Sodano and Achille Silvestrini – were the ones most staunchly opposed to the election of Ratzinger, just as they later tried to block the appointment of Bertone. [More...]

Need I add that it is a great read?