Explainer: What changes to Vatican law did Pope Francis make last week (and what difference will they make)?

Pope Francis looks on during Christmas greetings to the Roman Curia on December 21, 2019. (ANDREW MEDICHINI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Pope Francis issued a pair of Apostolic Letters motu proprio -- on his own initiative -- last week. One modifies the General Regulations of the Roman Curia in an attempt to discourage and curtail corruption. The other allows Cardinals and Bishops to be tried for criminal offences by lower-level Vatican Courts. Previously, high-ranking prelates could only be tried in such cases by the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican’s Supreme Court.