Pope Francis is popular with millions of Catholics around the world who appreciate his humility, folksy style, and rejection of official splendor. He has fewer fans in the Vatican bureaucracy.

This week, he gathered the Curia — the cardinals, bishops, and priests who run the Vatican’s daily operations — and scolded the surprised and mortified throng.

Outlining 15 problems with the church’s top bureaucracy, Pope Francis accused the princes of the church of being more concerned with accumulating wealth and power than serving God and the ordinary people in the pews. Along with reform of the bureaucracy, he demanded spiritual reform. The stinging rebuke to the men who work directly under him was without historical precedent, some Vatican observers said.

Others speculated that Pope Francis’ fury was informed by the results of a secret investigation ordered by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, of backstabbing and infighting in the Vatican bureaucracy. After Pope Benedict’s butler leaked stolen documents that described the discord in 2012, the pope, now retired, wanted to understand the depths of the tension and corruption that surrounded him.

Pope Francis apparently has the completed report, and is addressing the Curia’s problems by restructuring Vatican offices. Still, it will not be easy to reform an entrenched bureaucracy that has prevailed for hundreds of years.

The Pope deserves the support of those who are inspired by his vision of a church that serves its people, rather than a relatively few privileged insiders.

First Published December 27, 2014, 5:00 a.m.