Word: vatican
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Illinois-born Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, once regarded as a prime candidate for Cardinal, was passed over for promotion in a reorganization of the Curia office that runs the Vatican City administration...
...most thorough shake-up to date of the church's powerful administrative body, the Curia-moves that Italian newspapers described as "il terremoto" (the earthquake). In doing so, the Pope further weakened the traditional influence of Italians on Roman Catholicism's bureaucratic machinery. When the Second Vatican Council began in 1962, twelve of 16 Curia offices were headed by Italians; as a result of the latest moves, 16 out of 22 are now headed by foreigners. There are rumors that the Pope is planning an even more radical overhaul of the Curia to increase its responsiveness...
...American churchman moved up in the reshuffle. Monsignor John P. Foley, 48, editor of Philadelphia's official archdiocesan weekly, the Catholic Standard and Times, was named head of the Pontifical Commission for Social Communications, thereby becoming, in effect, the Vatican's top information officer...
Marcinkus, who also heads the Vatican bank, remains under a cloud because of the bank's dealings with scandal-ridden Banco Ambrosiano. John Paul also made a major change in removing himself as direct ruler of the Vatican City government in order to stress his role as Catholicism's spiritual leader. The new administrator: Secretary of State Agostino Cardinal Casaroli, who is second only to the Pope in the Vatican hierarchy...
John Paul now has his own men running all of the key Curial offices. Noting that Cardinal Gantin is the first non-Italian to run the Congregation for Bishops, a progressive Vatican watcher observed, "For the first time, bishops of the world will be chosen without the influence of Italian traditionalism." Perhaps so, but last week's administrative reform was hardly a triumph for liberals. Two prelate's picked for other leading posts were Archbishops Jean Jerome Hamer of Belgium and Augustin Mayer of West Germany. Both have reputations as theological conservatives who share the Pope...