A Sacramentality to be conserved

“It would be misleading to think of a reform that would overturn the entire curial organisation. Indeed, in the Curia there are dicasteries that pertain to the fundamental actions of the ecclesial modus operandi, such as announcing the Gospel, safeguarding the faith and protection of the customs, liturgical life, the service of the communion and charity… Other dicasteries are related to people and states in life of the Church.  All this must necessarily be conserved even if,  as  in the case of any service structure,  it always requires a kind of permanent ‘maintenance’ ”.  Monsignor Marcello Semeraro affirmed this during the opening ceremony of the Academic Year at the Pontifical Lateran University, in which the C9 Secretary delivered a Lectio Magistralis on the theme of the new Apostolic Constitution “Praedicate evangelium”.

“Reform” – he added –, in the mens of Francis is much more than an ordinary structural change.   Instead, it involves doing what is necessary so the Church may, in the flow of time and in the face of changing situations, conserve its ‘sacramentality’, namely its transparency towards God who makes it exist and abides in it. And this also applies to the Curia”.