This Apostolic Letter, issued this November 26th morning concerns only the structural apparatus of the Diocese of Rome.
But Silere non possum has the politics behind it and knowing how Pope Francis was duped to create an untenable “reform” of how the Diocese of Rome functions, Pope Leo corrects it and in a very brief Apostolic letter.
Here is the brief letter, which really has nothing to do with anything else but does it? I think it is a template for fixing Traditionis Custodis, where Pope Francis was also duped by someone about the need to issue this stupid Motu Proprio in the manner in which it was issued!
After the short Apostolic Letter, I will reproduce what Silere non possum sees in it from the Roman perspective:
APOSTOLIC LETTER
MOTU PROPRIO
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
LEO XIV
IMMOTA MANET
ON THE CENTRAL SECTOR OF THE DIOCESE OF ROME
With the motivation, premises, and considerations expressed in the Motu Proprio "La vera bellezza," issued on October 4, 2024, by my venerated Predecessor, remaining unchanged, and believing that some of the reflections were specifically directed at the Jubilee Year now drawing to a close, during which, however, not only a specificity but also a homogeneity and unity of the Central Sector of the Diocese of Rome has emerged even more clearly, with this Apostolic Letter issued Motu Proprio, I establish and order that the five Prefectures, from I to V, return to being part of a single Central Sector, which is thus once again added to the other four Sectors of the Diocese of Rome.
I hereby decree that what is established in this Apostolic Letter be given firm and permanent effect, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, even if worthy of special mention, and that it be promulgated by publication in L'Osservatore Romano, taking effect on the day of its publication, and subsequently inserted into the official commentary of the Acta Apostolicae Sedis.
Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on November 11, 2025, the Memorial of Saint Martin, the first of my Pontificate.
LEO PP. XIV
Here is Silere non possum’s political take and the backstory for this Apostolic letter:
Bishop Renato Tarantelli, vicegerent of the Diocese of Rome was Pope Francis’ ghost writer for Pope Francis’ motu proprio that created all the chaos in Rome now “fixed or corrected” by Pope Leo XIV!
Rome - Pope Leo XIV has done what many Roman parish priests have been waiting for for over a year: repairing a structural error that had paralyzed the diocese, bringing the five Prefectures of the Central Sector under a single pastoral unit. A clear, uncluttered gesture, devoid of frills and the pneumatic language with which, in October 2024, Pope Francis had wrapped a measure that made no sense either pastorally or administratively.
To understand the significance of what happened today, we must return to that Motu Proprio of 2024, written—as Silere non possum has repeatedly denounced—based on the ideas and pressure of Bishop Renato Tarantelli, vicegerent of the Diocese of Rome, (a favorite of Pope Francis who attended his ordination as a bishop at St. John Lateran last year). There was no real consultation with parish priests, no community discernment, no dialogue with those who carry out pastoral work in the neighborhoods. Just an ideological approach, a reform constructed on paper, as if Rome were a model to be modeled according to the theories of some improvised urban planner.
The result was an interminable document, a torrent of words without substance, similar—as Silere non possum immediately pointed out—to certain defense briefs produced in court to confuse the judge: long, verbose, seemingly technical, but lacking in content. A defense brief, then, that explains nothing. The difference is that, instead of citing Supreme Court rulings or normative interpretations, here mercy, beauty, pastoral care, even Russian writers, were brandished. Speaking without saying anything is not just a stylistic affectation: when the Pope's diocese is reorganized, vagueness becomes operational confusion, confusion translates into poor pastoral care, and the lives of the faithful and clergy become a daily hell. These are issues that never even cross the mind of someone who has never been a parish priest and, having failed in his career as a lawyer, has fallen back on the seminary, only to be quickly promoted to bishop. After all, if someone wasn't capable of being a lawyer and ended up in the seminary, there must be a reason. And indeed, that text bore all the hallmarks of someone who knows the codes only by hearsay: unsystematic verbosity, exaggerated concepts, useless metaphors.
Francis's provision dismembered the Central Sector, distributing the Prefectures among the four cardinal sectors. The whole thing was presented as a "synodal" gesture, the result of "numerous interventions" and "requests already made." Let's be honest here: those requests came from nowhere, except Tarantelli's desk. The parishes, named in question, knew nothing about it. The number of priests interviewed was zero. The vast majority of Roman priests learned everything after the fact and were left speechless.
The Heart of the Problem with the Motu Proprio "True Beauty"
Francis's entire text rested on an unproven assumption: that the center of Rome was so isolated and self-referential that it needed to be dissolved and "distributed" across the other four sectors. The Pope justified this with pages and pages of reflections on beauty, the city's history, tourism, and the theology of encounter. All true, but completely disconnected from the real issue: the ordinary pastoral care of the Central Sector cannot be reorganized with inspired prose, but with coherent administrative choices. The invocation of a "single center," of "bridges," of "geographical synodality" was insufficient to give meaning to a reform that complicated the lives of parish priests, obscured the chain of command, and, in effect, emptied the Central Sector of its historical and functional identity. The goal was to dismember a sector; the reasons were stitched together, and they were vague ones that created discontent and chaos.
Leo XIV: Surgery on the Essential
And so, today, Leo XIV, who in recent months has been dismantling, one after another, norms so fragile they couldn't even be held together with glue, has finally decided to end this period of confusion. With the Motu Proprio Immota Manet, just a few lines long but surgical in substance, the Pope has reestablished what everyone has always known: the five Prefectures of the Central Sector constitute a natural, pastoral, and historical unity.
And if a provision needs to be corrected, it is corrected without embarrassment: "...I establish and order that the five Prefectures, from I to V, return to being part of a single Central Sector, which is therefore once again added to the other four Sectors of the Diocese of Rome." One sentence. Just one. And yet it was enough to bring down an entire poorly constructed edifice. And let's be clear: this is not a gesture against his predecessor, but simply a recognition that his predecessor had been manipulated by Renato Tarantelli, as Silere non possum has always denounced. The Pope was literally dumbfounded by him and others in his circle, and signed. The parish priests paid the price. The Pope says it diplomatically, but he does say it: some considerations in Francis's text were tied to the impending Jubilee and were contradicted by the very reality of the Jubilee, which revealed a homogeneous, specific Central Sector, indispensable as an autonomous pastoral unit.
The priests of Rome now look to the future with hope and hope that Leo XIV will soon initiate a true reclamation of people, not just of norms. They are grateful because, finally, the Pope is returning to devote real attention to his diocese and his priests.
d.R.M.
Silence is not possible
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