In a Christmas message, Pope Francis criticized gossip among Vatican employees

Pope Francis asked Vatican bureaucrats on Saturday to stop speaking ill of each other, as he used his word again. Annual Christmas greetings To beware of backstabbing and gossip among his closest aides.

A wheezy and congested Francis, who had just turned 88, urged the bishops instead to speak well of each other and to conduct a humble examination of their consciences in the church. Christmas holiday season.

Francis said: “The church community lives in joyful fraternal harmony, as long as its members lead a life of humility, rejecting evil thoughts and speaking ill of others.” “Gossip is an evil that destroys social life, sickens people’s hearts, and leads to nothing. People say it well: Gossip is zero.”

He added: “Be careful of this.”

By now Francis’ annual Christmas address to priests, bishops and cardinals who work in the Vatican curia has become a lesson in humility — and humiliation — as Francis offers a public rebuke of some workplace sins at Vatican headquarters. Catholic Church.

In the most scathing edition, in 2014, Francis listed “15 diseases of the Curia,” in which he accused bishops of using their Vatican careers to seize power and wealth. He accused them of living a “hypocritical” double life and forgetting – because of “spiritual Alzheimer’s” – that they are supposed to be joyful men of God.

And in 2022, Francis warned them that the devil was lurking among them, saying it was an “elegant devil” working in people who have a rigid, holier-than-thou way of living the Catholic faith.

This year, Francis revisited a topic he has long warned about: Gossip and bad-mouthing Of people behind their backs. It was a reference to the sometimes toxic atmosphere in closed environments like the Vatican or workplaces where gossip and criticism run rampant in the office but rarely aired publicly.

Francis has long welcomed frank and open discussion and even criticism of his works. But he urged his critics to say it to his face, not behind his back.

Francis opened his speech Saturday with a reminder The devastation caused by the war in GazaHe said that his patriarch was unable to enter due to the Israeli bombing.

He added: “Yesterday, children were bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war.”

The annual appointment kicks off Francis’ busy Christmas schedule, made more difficult 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 an amazing calendar of events to serve them.

After addressing the Vatican bishops, Francis issued a less critical speech to the Vatican’s secular functionaries who had gathered in the city’s main state audience hall with their families. Francis thanked them for their service and urged them to make sure they make time to play with their children and visit their grandparents.

He finally added: “If you have any particular problems, tell your superiors. We want to solve them.” “You can do this through dialogue, not by remaining silent. Together we will try to solve the difficulties.”

This was a clear reference to reports of growing anxiety within the Vatican workforce that were denounced by the Association of Vatican Secular Employees, the closest thing the Vatican has to a labor union. In recent months, the association expressed its concern about the health of the Vatican’s retirement system and its fears of further cost-cutting, and called on the Vatican leadership to listen to workers’ concerns.

Earlier this year, 49 employees of the Vatican Museums — the Holy See’s main source of revenue — filed a class-action lawsuit in the Vatican court complaining about labor problems, overtime and working conditions.

In contrast to Italy, which has strong labor laws that protect workers’ rights, Vatican employees often find that there are fewer legal resources available to them when problems arise. However, employment at the Vatican is often sought after by Italian Catholics: apart from a sense of service to the Church, employment at the Vatican provides tax-free benefits and access to below-market housing.