Pope gets boost for reform from unlikely source: Italy PM says pope's change a model

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis' efforts to reform the Machiavellian Vatican bureaucracy have gotten a vote of confidence from an unlikely source.

Italian Premier Enrico Letta praised Francis's undertaking Tuesday, saying it could be a model for Italian public institutions in similar need of an overhaul.

The proposed reforms include the creation of an advisory board of eight cardinals.

The eight advisers who hail from five different continents began a second round of meetings Tuesday with Francis on reforming the Vatican Curia, or bureaucracy, to make it more responsive to the needs of the church on the ground. The meetings end Thursday.