THE REFORMS OS POPE FRANCIS: SITUATION, MEANINGS AND PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

The reforms undertaken by Pope Francis have received explicit oppositions from members of the Catholic hierarchy. The Pope himself explained this to the members of the Roman Curia. These oppositions can be detected in the whole Church in different ways. The fact is that two ecclesial projects coexist in the same institutional body and in the same pastoral practices. These projects express and constitute two distinct ecclesial identities that are dialectically related to each other. Pope Francis' reforms that are under way touch on a complex sys­tem and involve different aspects. An immediate and radical reform of the whole of the institution in the ecclesiastical and ecclesial spheres and in the individual and collective dimensions cannot be expected in socio-political terms. It is, in fact, a slow process of renovation that affects subjects, mentalities and structures. Structural reform is the final phase of this process.