Pope Francis has told Vatican administrators he intends to press ahead "with firm resolve" to cleanse the Church's bureaucracy which has been rocked by scandals and charges of greed and corruption.
In traditional Christmas greetings to the Curia, the central Vatican administration, the 79-year-old pontiff on Monday said he had flu and excused himself for reading the speech seated, though he showed no signs of illness and later stood to greet the dozens of officials.
As it was last year, his speech was dominated by his intentions of ridding the Vatican's bureaucracy of spiritual "diseases" - a reference to alleged corrupt practices among top administrators - despite resistance in the Church hierarchy.
"It seems necessary to state what has been, and ever shall be, the object of sincere reflection and decisive provisions. The reform will move forward with determination, clarity and firm resolve," Francis said.
At the same gathering last year he issued a stinging criticism of the Curia, listing a catalogue of "diseases" in the bureaucracy including careerism, scheming and greed that had infected them with "spiritual Alzheimer's".
Returning to the theme on Monday, he said: "Some of these diseases became evident in the course of the past year, causing no small pain to the entire body and harming many souls, even with scandals."
This was an apparent reference to a current trial in the Vatican where five people, including two members of the Curia and two journalists, are charged with the theft of confidential papal documents.
The leaks were the basis of two books published last month that depicted a Vatican plagued by greed and graft and where the Pope faces stiff resistance to his reform agenda.
