ABSTRACT
The reform of the Roman Curia is the indispensable business of any council of reform for the universal Church. Crucial decisions are taken in Rome; much power is concentrated there; Rome sets the tone for the universal Church. That tone has rarely been attractive outside of Rome. But the Curia is heavy with complacency. It believes its own rhetoric of superiority. The Cardinal, based on Henry Morton Robinson's best-selling novel, is the story of a priest, who, like Cardinal Spellman, was born in Boston, educated at the North American College in Rome, and later served with the Vatican Secretariat of State. The movie goes to Georgia for scenes of racial conflict; to Austria for scenes of Catholic solicitude for the Jews under Hitler; and into the confessional, where the priest speaks in textbook terms to his own sister, who is groping for sympathetic help out of her many troubles.
