Pope outlines plan for less 'Vatican-centric' Church

Pope Francis outlined plans for reform of the Church to make it less "Vatican-centric" today as he met with top cardinals tasked with helping him overhaul the 2,000-year-old institution.
In his strongest censure of the intrigue-filled Vatican world yet, the Argentine pontiff condemned "leprosy" in the Vatican and called for a less hierarchical Church structured "horizontally".
"Leaders of the Church have often been Narcissuses, gratified and sickeningly excited by their courtiers. The court is the leprosy of the papacy," Francis said in an interview with Italian left-wing daily La Repubblica.
The comments came as the pope, who has become known for his humble style, met with a group of eight cardinals he has called to advise him on reforming the Vatican administration and bettering communication with local churches.

Francis has already taken several significant steps to tackle one of the Vatican's most high-profile problems: the scandal-plagued bank.
In June he set up a pontifical commission to analyse the bank and propose ways to reform it, and today it published its accounts for the first time in a new drive for transparency.

A report in the Corriere della Sera daily said the bank was shutting 900 accounts as part of an internal audit, including ones deemed suspicious belonging to diplomats from the embassies to the Holy See of Indonesia, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
The unique advisory board of cardinals meeting today -- an innovation in Church government -- is holding closed door talks for three days and is expected to address a range of problems.

These could include further financial reform, the role of women in the Church and whether to soften institutional lines on issues such as the position of divorced Catholics and homosexuality.
It will also look at how to strengthen ties between the Vatican and local parishes, and place more focus on priests and their communities.
The Holy See "is too Vatican-centric", the pontiff said in the interview.
"It looks after the interests of the Vatican, which are for the most part, earthly interests. This Vatican-centric vision neglects the world that surrounds it," he said.
"I do not share this vision and will do everything to change it.

"The Church is -- or must become once more -- a community of the people of God, and the presbyter priests, vicars and bishops who cure souls are at the service of God's people," he added.
The eight cardinals in the group come from Australia, Chile, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Germany, Honduras, India, Italy and the United States.
"This is the start of a Church structured just not vertically but horizontally as well," Francis said.
The cardinals "are not courtiers but wise men who share my same feelings," he added.