Pope offers gentle critique of Vatican culture in Christmas greeting reminiscent of past

Pope Leo XIV urged Vatican cardinals on Monday to put their ambitions of power and personal interests aside, as he followed in Pope Francis’ footsteps and used a Christmas greeting to gently criticize his closest collaborators. “Is it possible to be friends in the Roman Curia?” Leo asked the cardinals and bishops who make up the Curia, as the Holy See bureaucracy is known. The fact that Leo asked the question suggests that the American pope knows well that the Curia remains a difficult and sometimes toxic workplace, one that Francis would often eviscerate in his annual Christmas addresses.