Abstract

The article argues that the Catholic Church has difficulties to make radical reforms. In the past, the tendency not to accept radical changes has been mainly due to the process of bureaucratization introduced by the Council of Trent and further developed in the next centuries, in combination with the strengthening of the Pope's power. The Second Vatican Council represented a first and ambitious trial to change the bureaucratic form of the Church, but it has produced very poor results in terms of structural changes. The changes are so difficult to introduce also because of the wide internal heterogeneity of a global organization, which operates in many different cultural and religious environments. In this context, the Pope's choice to postpone structural reforms and to promote instead the peaceful internal coexistence of innovators and conservatives and a reinforcement of his own media exposure seems quite understandable.