Add Pope as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Pope news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add InterestPope Francis once again used a Christmas greeting to dress down Vatican officials Thursday, denouncing the "cancer" of cliques and how bureaucrats can become "corrupted" by ambition and vanity. But Francis spent a good chunk of his remarks on in-house business, urging Vatican officials to overcome the plots and cliques that "represent a cancer of self-referential attitudes" in the church. Francis didn't name names, and it wasn't immediately clear if he was referring some of the mysterious exits of top Vatican officials in 2017. Only after Milone claimed the Vatican made trumped-up charges against him did the Vatican accuse him of having hired an outside firm to spy on Vatican officials.

Source: ABC News December 21, 2017 10:30 UTC