In Germany, the Pope’s hospitalisation has become an opportunity to call for revolution

Rome. At 7.48 pm yesterday, the Vatican Press Office, via a message posted on Telegram, informed accredited journalists that the surgical procedure to remove a lump from the lung had been successfully completed “on schedule and as planned” and that “the Holy Father has returned to his room”. Leo XIV had been admitted to the Policlinico Gemelli in the early afternoon, as scheduled, greeting the large crowd of faithful waiting for him at the hospital entrance, along with journalists and photographers. At 6.00 pm, from the Gemelli chapel, the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, Baldassare Reina, presided over the recitation of the Rosary. Earlier that morning, the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, had expressed his confidence: “We are at the beginning of this difficult situation and we hope it can be resolved as soon as possible. We are confident of this, but we are accompanying it with prayer. It is something which, thank God, was detected immediately, and normally, when such issues are addressed in time, they can be resolved.”

The Pope’s return to Gemelli Hospital after announcing that he had a health issue at the end of Sunday’s Angelus is a golden opportunity for the most ardent advocates of German-style synodal reforms. To understand the connection, one need only read an editorial published on the official website of the Catholic Church in Germany, which links the ‘bolt from the blue’ (to use Cardinal Parolin’s words) regarding the lung nodule detected in the Pope to the need to change the Church. Christoph Paul Hartmann writes that ‘the case shows just how fragile the system of the papacy is. The Pope still governs his Church as a pre-modern sovereign governed his kingdom or principality: individual ministers, or rather prefects, are summoned to an audience and then pass on the directives they have received, filtering them according to their own interpretation.” 

Everything is centred on the sovereign at the top, whilst links and collaboration at lower levels are rare. This – the article continues – gives rise to various problems: often, one hand does not know what the other is doing; departments work in parallel or even against one another, instead of moving in the same direction. Knowledge is scattered, particularly during the handover between long-serving prefects and newly appointed ones. Organisations often act without adequate coordination, to the extent that their publications can appear contradictory. ‘Sufficient organisational knowledge is not developed to enable processes to be made more professional.’ The analysis on the German Church’s official website continues, stating that ‘this is also why the Vatican is often regarded as an extremely slow and cumbersome institution. The fragmentation of the individual actors ultimately leads to stagnation’.

The article continues: “To counter this trend, Pope Francis had convened the Council of Cardinals. But that could only have been a first step. The Pope’s illness has once again highlighted just how much the Curia still needs reform, even after the reforms promoted by Francis. Leo XIV would do well to distribute knowledge – and responsibility – amongst more people, so as to make the governance of the Church not only more professional, but also more agile and capable of adapting to change. It would benefit from this.” On the subject of fluttering crows and Christian charity.

In any case, the convalescence period now begins: as announced on Monday by the Prefecture of the Papal Household, all audiences are suspended until next Tuesday, 20 October. After that, a gradual resumption will take place. As is well known, the trip to South America in November is on the calendar.