Two South Africans have been involved in these important events. Former Provincial of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood in South Africa and current Secretary General of the Southern African Catholic Bishop’s Conference, Sr. Hermenegild Makoro, attended her first meeting as a member of the Vatican’s seventeen-member Commission for the abuse of minors and vulnerable people.

Pope Francis set up the Commission, headed by Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, in December 2013. The Commission is tasked to advise the Pope on how the Church should tackle sex abuse as well as suggest strict guidelines to prevent this scourge. Sr. Makoro said that the Commission would meet twice a year and that the schedule at such meetings was tight. She explained that the Commission was made up of a good mix of professionals: educators, lawyers, psychologists, moral theologians, canon lawyers, social workers, and medical doctors.

In 2014 Pope Francis became the first Pope who not only condemned sexual abuse in the Church but also admitted that, at times, the Church had been complicit in abuse. At the close of the Commission’s meeting earlier this week, Cardinal O’Malley told the media that the commission was drawing up sanctions for bishops who had covered up abuse and had not been accountable. Speaking at a Vatican briefing on Saturday, O’Malley said, there had to be consequences for bishops who didn’t respond appropriately to reports of abuse, including procedures that allow these cases to be handled efficiently and not in an “open-ended way.”

A number of clergy have been convicted and sentenced for sexual abuse, but bishops – who did not act when they knew there were such problems occurring in their dioceses – have not been held accountable. “There have to be consequences and there need to be procedures that will allow these cases to be dealt with in an expeditious way,” he said. The Cardinal also told the press that meeting with victims changed his life and that it was an eye-opener on how little the Church had done on the issue by 1993.

Makoro said, “The issue of accountability has been identified as one of major importance. We hope to raise awareness and understanding at all levels of the church regarding the seriousness and urgency in implementing correct safeguarding procedures. We are hoping to develop seminars to educate Church leadership in the area.” The Southern African Catholic Bishop’s Conference developed procedures for safeguarding minors and dealing with accusations of abuse a number of years ago – these are available on their website and they include reporting cases to civil authorities. “The Commission will be studying the existing guidelines, finding best practices that can be shared, and seeing whether there are any gaps in how these are implemented.”

“We want to make sure that all Bishop’s Conferences have guidelines in place and we want to strengthen what is good and workable,” she said.

“We are not making new rules,” Sr. Makoro said, “but we are an advisory body at the service of the Holy Father.” She explained that the commission would be proposing initiatives and policies to Pope Francis that could be used by local Bishop’s Conferences and Church authorities. The Secretary General, reflecting on her experience in Rome, said, “What has left a mark on me is working with some of the survivors [some of the people appointed to the Commission were themselves victims of abuse by church personnel]. They are determined to see that what happened to them does not happen to others. They have shared just how damaging the abuse they suffered has been.”

While this Commission was meeting, another South African was part of an important gathering. Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, Archbishop of Durban, is a member of the Council for the Economy. The Vatican bank has been plagued by crisis and dysfunction. This Council is trying to implement sweeping financial reforms to revamp the Vatican bank so that the Vatican’s messy finances are put in order. These, and other structural reforms, are a huge challenge because, says David Gibson, “the culture of secrecy has marked the papal bureaucracy for centuries.” Cardinal Napier tweeted, in two tweets on Saturday, “Council for the Economy Meeting yesterday was rather tense, reflecting that we’ve reached a decisive stage in setting up checks and balances for better management of Vatican finances. Clearly Council is grasping the nettle & taking charge of the reform issues entrusted to it!” Pope Francis has made it clear that he wants accountable and transparent financial dealings in the walls of the Vatican. Last year the Vatican’s top prosecutor froze Vatican bank accounts when it was alleged that three bank employees embezzled money while managing property sales in the 2000s.

Ahead of the Consistory on Saturday Francis has also met this week with what has been dubbed the “C9”. This is a group of nine cardinals that he called together to be special advisors. They are tackling the enormous question of the reform of the Roman Curia. Pope Francis has already alluded to a number of the issues he wants dealt with when he delivered his frank and shocking Christmas message. He spoke of “spiritual Alzheimer’s” and “gossipy cliques” and warned against dangerous “spiritual diseases” that inhabit the Roman Curia. He spoke disapprovingly of career bureaucrats and the “building of personal empires.” It is expected that the Pope will want the C9 to advise him on how to face a number of these issues head-on. Many of the cardinals on the C9 are likely to agree with Francis’ frank critique. Francis is expected, with the help of the C9, to restructure Vatican offices by laying off clerical personnel and (as he has already alluded to) employing more lay people, especially women, in the Roman Curia.

On Sunday the Vatican’s doctrinal chief, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, told the Vatican based newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, that the Pope is pursuing a “spiritual cleansing of the temple” which will be at the same time both “painful and liberating” so that the “glory of God can shine in the Church.” He was attempting to articulate theological criteria to reform the Church and the Roman Curia. Mueller described the Roman Curia as “spiritual institution rooted in the specific mission of the Church of Rome.”

Last week Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich, gave an exclusive interview to America Magazine. Marx is a member of the C9. In the interview Marx said that the de-clericalisation of the Roman Curia and local diocesan administrations was very important. He admitted that there was lots of work that needs to be done to change things in the Church. “I say it and repeat it also in my diocese: Please see what you can do to bring lay people, especially women, into positions of responsibility in diocesan administration. We have made a plan for the Catholic Church in Germany to have more leading positions in diocesan administrations filled by women.” When asked what impediments need to be overcome for reform to take place Marx replied, “Mentality! Mentality! Mentality!” “The leaders must begin; the chiefs must begin. The mentality must change. The church is not a business, but the methods are not so different. We have to work more in teams, in projects,” he said.

In a press conference on Wednesday towards the end of the meeting of the Pope and C9, Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., said that many working documents had been discussed (about restructuring and reforming the Roman Curia) but there was no single new draft. Without giving much detail Lombardi said that the C9 had discussed with “certain concreteness” several proposals about reform. He said that, for the next two days, the Pope would meet with all the church’s cardinals where a number of issues will be discussed. Cardinal Sean O’Malley will also address the group on his work as head of the papal commission on clergy sexual abuse.  

Just as many South Africans want concrete plans and actions from the president to face the many and complex problems of the country, so too many Catholics are waiting for concrete plans and actions to emerge from Rome. Vatican watcher, Andrea Galiarducci wrote on Monday “The week that begins today and ends with the creation of 20 new cardinals may represent the turning point of Pope Francis’ pontificate.” Gagliarducci noted that Francis is approaching the second anniversary of his election, and Catholics are starting to look for concrete results from the great expectations he has raised.

The most difficult task for Pope Francis will not necessarily be changing Vatican structures and procedures. Rather, like so much in South Africa too, changing the mentality and culture will be his biggest challenge yet. DM

Photo: Pope Francis speaks with a woman during the general audience in Paolo VI hall in Vatican, 28 January 2015. EPA/MAURIZIO BRAMBATTI

Russell Pollitt is a Jesuit Priest and Director of the Jesuit Institute – South Africa in Johannesburg. Follow him on Twitter: @rpollittsj