Pope Francis today issued a blistering critique of the Vatican bureaucracy that serves him while delivering a Christmas message to cardinals, bishops and priests who run the Holy See.

Rather than offering a traditional good-willed festive greeting, the pontiff described how some of those under him lust for power at all costs and lead hypocritical double-lives

He suggested others suffer from 'spiritual Alzheimer's' and forget they're supposed to be joyful men of God - while offering a sobering catalog of the 15 sins of the Curia.

The sins, or ailments as he called them, included how the 'terrorism of gossip' can 'kill the reputation of our colleagues and brothers in cold blood.'

Another of the sins was how cliques can 'enslave their members and become a cancer that threatens the harmony of the body' and eventually kill it by 'friendly fire'.
Source :AFP