Curia, Roman

A group of high officials who assist the Pope in governing and administrating the Roman Catholic Church.

POST VATICAN II

From THE CITIZEN 4/12/84 (page 16): "Pope John Paul has carried out a major shake-up of the Vatican Curia in what the Church and diplomatic sources see as a move to internationalize the Church's hierarchy and distance herself from its daily bureaucracy. Last Monday's sweeping changes in the Roman Catholic Church's staid central administration were headlined by Italian newspapers as `An Earthquake in the Vatican.' The sources said the long- awaited changes clearly show the Pope's intention to make the Curia more international and less Italian. Eleven of the sixteen Prelates appointed or re-assigned to important Curia posts are non-Italian."

This was in response to the Vatican II document CHRISTUS DOMINUS (10/28/65) which expressed a desire to have the Curia "re-organized and modernized."