Take Pope Francis' quiz: Do you have any of these 15 spiritual illnesses?
FREE Catholic Classes
Pope Francis has provided a list of 15 things he wants the Curia to be on guard against. Describing each of the 15 conditions as a disease, the Holy Father spoke addressing the Curia itself, in his Christmas address.
Highlights
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
12/22/2014 (1 decade ago)
Published in Living Faith
Keywords: Pope Francis, curia, list, spiritual, illness
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Listing 15 spiritual ailments, Pope Francis warned the Curia to be on their guard and to ask for God's forgiveness. He spoke about the ailments as affecting both the Curia as well as the clergy of the Catholic Church and even the parishioners themselves.
Here is the list of 15 spiritual conditions against which every Christian ought to be on their guard.
Pray for the leaders and clergy of our Church, that they may be free of spiritual illness and flourish through the power of the Holy Spirit.
1. Feeling immortal and essential
"A curia that does not practice self-criticism, does not keep up to date, does not try to better itself, is an infirm Body." Pope Francis suggested visiting a cemetery to see people who perhaps thought themselves essential or even immortal at one time.
2. Excessive activity
People who lose themselves in their work and neglect "what is better" which he explained was sitting at Jesus' feet.
3. "Petrification"
Some people become incapable of feeling, buried in their work and under papers.
4. Overplanning
Some people become accountants in a spiritual sense, overplanning to the point they no longer hear and heed the Holy Spirit in what they do. They tend to become static and unchanging, unreceptive to the direction of the Holy Spirit.
5. Lack of coordination
Some people lose their sense of community and instead of living communally and cooperatively, they live for themselves and the body of people as a whole suffers.
6. Spiritual Alzheimer's
Described as a "progressive decline of spiritual faculties" which "causes severe disadvantages to people." Specifically, Pope Francis referred to people who have lost their spiritual way, having forgotten about the Lord. They become subject to "passions, whims and obsessions."
7. Rivalry and vanity
Some people are more concerned with rank and privilege and not with doing their pastoral duty to their neighbors.
8. Existential schizophrenia
People who live double lives, spiritually empty and mediocre, filling themselves with the false esteem of degrees and honors, but without fulfilling pastoral duties to others.
9. Gossip
Some people gossip and become "sowers of discord." Pope Francis described this as a "disease of cowards."
10. Defiance
People who "court their superiors" looking after what they might gain and not at what they can give.
11. Indifference
When people think only of themselves and not of others, and they lose the warmth of human relationships. They do not share their knowledge, preferring to see others fall.
12. The funeral face
People who are "scowling and unfriendly and think that in order to be serious, they must show a melancholic and strict face and treat others, especially those, whom they think are inferior, with rigidity harshness, and arrogance. People should strive to be joyful and full of humor and self-irony, which can be healthy.
13. Hoarding
Some people prefer to surround themselves with material possessions because spiritually they are empty.
14. Cliques
When belonging to a group is more important that belonging to the Body of Christ, they can develop a spiritual form of cancer.
15. Showing off
"When the apostle turns his service into power, and his power into a commodity to gain worldly profits, or even more powers. It is the disease of those people who relentlessly seek to increase their powers. To achieve that, they may defame, slander and discredit others, even on newspapers and magazines. Naturally, that is in order to show off and exhibit their superiority to others'
Pope Francis ended his talk comparing priests to airplanes, saying that everybody knows when they fall, but most fly successfully. "Many criticize, and few pray for them." However, those that fall bring down the whole Church.
---
'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'
Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online
Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.

Pope Leo XIV – First American Pope
-
- Easter / Lent
- Ascension Day
- 7 Morning Prayers
- Mysteries of the Rosary
- Litany of the Bl. Virgin Mary
- Popular Saints
- Popular Prayers
- Female Saints
- Saint Feast Days by Month
- Stations of the Cross
- St. Francis of Assisi
- St. Michael the Archangel
- The Apostles' Creed
- Unfailing Prayer to St. Anthony
- Pray the Rosary

Three New Venerables: Witnesses of Peace, Martyrdom, and Mission

Childhood Home of Pope Leo XIV Might be Preserved as a Historic Catholic Landmark

Deadly Shooting Outside Jewish Museum Sparks Global Grief and Security Concerns Amid Rising Antisemitism
Daily Catholic
Daily Readings for Friday, May 23, 2025
St. John Baptist de Rossi: Saint of the Day for Friday, May 23, 2025
Prayer to St. Gabriel, for Others: Prayer of the Day for Saturday, May 10, 2025
Daily Readings for Thursday, May 22, 2025
St. Rita: Saint of the Day for Thursday, May 22, 2025
- Prayer for Travelers: Prayer of the Day for Friday, May 09, 2025
Copyright 2025 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2025 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.
Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.