At the Vatican, Enter the Turnstiles

First there was the merit-pay plan (coming next year)... and, now, in the latest fruit of the "Bertonefication" of the Curia, all Vatican employees are now required to clock in for the first time in nearly a half-century:

The swipe cards have reportedly been received without complaint by the lay staff but some older clerics have been heard grumbling that Pope John XXIII abolished timekeeping in the early '60s.

The fondly remembered 'good pope', a progressive, thought that keeping staff on the clock worked against the flexibility they needed.

According to reports out of the Vatican, elder clerics are complaining that clocking in and out is a headache when they have to leave the office on twice-weekly pastoral duty.

Keep in mind that it was Pope John who, when asked how many people worked in the Vatican, famously replied "about half."

In reality, though, a healthy number of officials keep at their desks well into the evening... time cards or not.

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