Pope Francis on Saturday urged Vatican bureaucrats to stop speaking ill of each other as he once again took advantage annual Christmas greetings to admonish the deceitfulness and gossip of his closest associates.
A panting and constipated Francis, who had just turned 88, urged prelates to instead speak well of one another and conduct a humble examination of their own consciences in the church Christmas holiday season.
“A church community lives in joyful and fraternal harmony provided its members live lives of humility and abandon evil thinking and speaking ill of others,” Francis said. “Gossip is an evil that destroys social life, sickens people’s hearts and leads to nothing. People say it very well: gossip is zero.”
“Be careful of that,” he added.
Meanwhile, Francis’ annual Christmas address to the priests, bishops and cardinals who work in the Vatican Curia has become a lesson in humility – and humiliation – as Francis offers a public trivialization of some workplace sins at the headquarters of the Catholic Church.
Andrew Medichini / AP
In the most scathing edition of 2014, Francis listed the “15 Sorrows of the Curia,” accusing prelates of using their Vatican careers to gain power and wealth. He accused them of living a “hypocritical” double life and forgetting – due to “spiritual Alzheimer’s disease” – that they should be joyful men of God.
In 2022, Francis warned them that the devil lurks among them, saying it is an “elegant demon” that works in people who have a rigid, holier way of living the Catholic faith.
This year, Francis revisited a topic that he had often warned about: gossip and badmouth from people behind their backs. It was a reference to the sometimes toxic atmosphere in closed spaces like the Vatican or in workplaces where office gossip and criticism circulate but are rarely expressed publicly.
Francis has long welcomed open and frank debate and even welcomes criticism of his own work. But he has urged critics to say it to their faces and not behind his back.
Francis opened his address on Saturday with a reminder of that Devastation of war in Gazawhere he said even his patriarch was unable to enter due to Israeli bombing.
“Children were bombed yesterday. This is cruelty, this is not war,” he said.
The annual appointment is the start of Francis’ busy Christmas calendar, made even more strenuous this year by the start of the Holy Year in the Vatican on Christmas Eve. The anniversary is expected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to Rome in 2025, and Francis has a dizzying calendar of events to serve them.
Andrew Medichini / AP
After his address to the Vatican prelates, Francis delivered a less critical address to the Vatican’s lay workers, who gathered along with their families in the city-state’s main audience hall. Francis thanked them for their service and encouraged them to take time to play with their children and visit their grandparents.
“If you have any particular problems, tell your superiors, we want to solve them,” he concluded. “This can be achieved through dialogue, not in silence. Together we will try to solve the difficulties.”
It was an apparent reference to reports of growing unrest within the Vatican’s workforce, voiced by the Association of Vatican Lay Employees, the union closest to the Vatican. The association has in recent months expressed concern about the state of the Vatican pension system and fears of even greater cost cuts, and called on Vatican leadership to 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 with the Vatican tribunal complaining about labor problems, overtime and working conditions.
Unlike Italy, which has strict labor laws protecting workers’ rights, Vatican staff often find they have fewer legal recourse when problems arise. However, employment at the Vatican is often sought by Italian Catholics: aside from the sense of serving the Church, employment at the Vatican offers tax-free benefits and access to below-market housing.
