During his annual address to members of the Curia at Christmas time, Pope Francis has been (at least two years in a row) fairly candid in describing the ails of, and prescribing the cures for, Curial dysfunction.  Some of Francis' critics have accused him of being overly harsh in his admonishments.  I think the truth falls on the other side: Francis has not been aggressive enough in cleaning out the rot that has accumulated in the Curia over the centuries.  I continue to think that the right thing to do is to dissolve the Roman Curia, disperse most of its functions to regional and national conferences of bishops, and reconstitute the Curia as an advisory group in service to, but without authority over, the local bishops. This really is on Pope Francis. He was elected with a mandate to reform the Curia and I think he's made a good-faith effort to begin that work. But he's run into a brick wall.  To borrow a phrase, "Pope Francis, tear down that wall!"