Pope Francis on Saturday urged Vatican bureaucrats to stop speaking ill of each other as he again used his annual Christmas greetings to warn against backstabbing and gossip among his closest associates.
Wheezing and short of breath, Francis, who just turned 88, urged the prelates to speak well of each other and conduct a humble examination of their own consciences in Christmas holiday season.
“The church community lives in joyful and fraternal harmony to the extent that its members live in humility, rejecting evil thoughts and speaking ill of others,” Francis said. “Gossip is an evil that destroys social life, hurts people's hearts and leads to nothing. The people say very well: gossip is zero.”
“Beware of it,” he added.
Francis' annual homily to the priests, bishops and cardinals who work in the Vatican curia has already become a lesson in humility — and humiliation — as Francis offers to publicly exonerate some workplace sins at Francis' headquarters. the catholic church.
Andrew Medicini/AP
In the most scathing publication in 2014, Francis listed “15 ills of the Curia” in which he accused prelates of using their Vatican careers to seize power and wealth. He accused them of leading a “hypocritical” double life and forgetting—because of “spiritual Alzheimer's disease”—that they should be joyful people of God.
In 2022, Francis warned them that the devil was lurking among them, saying he was an “elegant demon” working in people who follow a rigid, holier-than-thou way of living the Catholic faith.
This year, Francis returned to a theme he often warned about: gossip and speak badly people behind them. It was a reference to the sometimes toxic atmosphere in closed spaces like the Vatican or workplaces where office gossip and criticism circulate but are rarely voiced in public.
Francis has long welcomed frank and open debate and even welcomed criticism of his work. But he urged critics to say it to his face, not behind his back.
Francis began his address on Saturday with a reminder of the devastation of the war in Gazawhere he said even his patriarch could not enter because of Israeli bombardment.
“Children were bombed yesterday. This is cruelty, this is not war,” he said.
The annual appointment kicks off Francis' busy Christmas schedule, made even busier this year by the start of the Vatican's Holy Year on Christmas Eve. The jubilee is expected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to Rome during 2025, and Francis has a dizzying calendar of events to minister to.
Andrew Medicini/AP
After the address to the Vatican prelates, Francis delivered a less critical address to the lay staff of the Vatican, who, together with their families, gathered in the city's main audience hall. Francis thanked them for their service and urged them to find time to play with their children and visit their grandparents.
“If you have any particular problems, tell the superiors, we want to solve them,” he added at the end. “You do this through dialogue, not silence. Together we will try to solve the difficulties.”
It was an apparent reference to reports of growing anxiety among Vatican workers, which was sparked by the Association of Lay Employees of the Vatican, the Vatican's closest union. In recent months, the association has raised concerns about the health of the Vatican's pension system and fears of further cost cuts, and has demanded that Vatican officials listen to workers' concerns.
Earlier this year, 49 employees of the Vatican Museums — the Holy See's main source of income — filed a class-action lawsuit at the Vatican Tribunal, complaining of workplace hardships, overtime and working conditions.
Unlike Italy, which has strong labor laws that protect workers' rights, Vatican officials often find they have fewer legal remedies available when problems arise. However, Italian Catholics often seek work at the Vatican: in addition to the sense of service to the church, working at the Vatican offers tax-free benefits and access to below-market housing.