Pope Francis recently said in an interview that the role of mystics in the church is fundamental and that a religion without mystics is a philosophy.
He also said in the same interview:
Pope Francis also recently warned about a Church of efficiency and functionalism:
"I love the mystics; Saint Francis also was in many aspects of his life, but I do not think I have the vocation and then we must understand the deep meaning of that word. The mystic manages to strip himself of action, of facts, objectives and even the pastoral mission and rises until he reaches communion with the Beatitudes. Brief moments but which fill an entire life.
"When the conclave elected me Pope: Before I accepted I asked if I could spend a few minutes in the room next to the one with the balcony overlooking the square. My head was completely empty and I was seized by a great anxiety. To make it go way and relax I closed my eyes and made every thought disappear, even the thought of refusing to accept the position, as the liturgical procedure allows. I closed my eyes and I no longer had any anxiety or emotion. At a certain point I was filled with a great light. It lasted a moment, but to me it seemed very long. Then the light faded, I got up suddenly and walked into the room where the cardinals were waiting and the table on which was the act of acceptance. I signed it, the Cardinal Camerlengo countersigned it and then on the balcony there was the Habemus Papam."
Pope Francis also recently warned about a Church of efficiency and functionalism:
“The disciples wanted efficiency; they wanted the Church to go forward without problems and this can become a temptation for the Church: the Church of functionalism! The well-organized Church! Everything in its place, but without memory and without promise! This Church, in this way, cannot move ahead. It will be the Church of the fight for power; it will be the Church of jealousies between the baptized and many other things that occur when there is no memory and no promise.”
The “vitality of the Church,” then, does not come through documents and planning meetings - these are necessary, yes, but they are not “the sign of God’s presence.” (From the Record 2 October 2013 "Beware the Church of Efficiency")
Unfortunately many of our Bishops are administrators and bureaucrats and part of the new clericalism in the church. Many of these Bishops speak publicly in an orthodox manner while in their diocese they set about quenching all the new movements of the Holy Spirit and new spiritually orthodox endeavours. They continue to allow and appoint modernists to run the liturgy and the seminaries and the Catholic universities while outwardly wearing an orthodox mask. A culture of intimidation descends on the diocese or archdiocese and people are afraid to speak out openly in fear of being disloyal or of their movements being penalised by these same merciless Bishops. People speak of a 'stable' from which these wolves dressed as shepherds come but a 'lair' or 'den' may be more appropriate.