Pope Francis warned against “spiritual worldliness” in his annual Christmas message to officials of the Roman Curia.

Following his pattern in recent years, the Pope used the annual gathering with the Curia—traditionally an exchange of greetings—to denounce the failings of Church officials. He exhorted his listeners to avoid attachments that could leave them “enclosed in their little world.” This spiritual worldliness, he said, is “hard to unmask, for it is concealed by everything that usually reassures us: our role, the liturgy, doctrine, religious devotion.”

In an apparent reference to his critics, the Pope said that an undue attachment to the form of the liturgy or to doctrine “reveals a lack of faith, hope and love; it leads to an inability to discern the truth of things.”

The Pontiff also decried the influence of “clericalism,” which he said “makes us keep thinking of a God who speaks only to some, while the others must only listen and obey.” He contrasted that attitude with “synodality,” a process in which “humility alone can enable us to encounter and listen, to dialogue and discern.”