by Fr. Pio Pace
Has the accession of Francis to the Throne of Peter really and deeply changed things? At close examination, it seems that this Pontificate is much less innovative that one would have thought when it began.
A Pontificate that is less innovative than it was first thought
The multiple "gestures" (not living in the papal apartments, explicit simplicity) show themselves to be without major consequences for the papal institution. As for surprising declarations amidst small sentences on matters which are media-sensitive, they do not seem to have been followed by institutional or magisterial effects. On the crucial area of episcopal and cardinalatial nominations, there are some that are extremely good, others that are extremely lousy, exactly as it happened in the previous pontificate -- the general trend of the episcopates still pointing towards a generally moderate line.
The famous reform of the Curia will necessarily show itself to be very disappointing for those who imagined …More