Benedict Starts to Put His Stamp on the Vatican's Bureaucracy

Edward Pentin in National Catholic Register on reaction to mergers of some pontifical councils (which sound like commissions as opposed to the Vatican congregations or departments).

Father Justo Lacunza-Balda, director of the Pontifical Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies, said the changes denote a changing role for the pontifical councils, all of which were created after the Second Vatican Council.

"Councils perhaps run the risk of being ivory towers with lots of photocopies being sent out and not much interaction," he said.

Rosemary Radford Ruether is reported to have said she stays with the Church because "That's where the Xerox machines are." Usually she's understood to have meant the photocopies are a means to an end, but perhaps not.