In the Wake of Pope Francis

Now that Pope Francis has died, there is a rush among many pundits to highlight his strengths while downplaying (or omitting) his faults. They do so even to the point of an unofficial canonization. They do so dishonestly, for if one is to cover Pope Francis’ attributes with only half a tale, we receive a story that deceives us about at least half a man.

A Pope will always be in some sense the “face” of the Church, especially to those outside of her, so I have long found it tragic that he did not reflect the best of her. As I have stated before, Pope Francis was the biggest impediment to my conversion. I know that I’m not alone in that. I overcame that roadblock not by coming to favor his pronouncements over time, but by realizing that I was grossly misinformed about the doctrine of Papal Infallibility, and subsequently looking away from news reports about his statements to the press. Neither his official statements nor those news reports were going to draw me closer to Christ or His Church, it became clear.

Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J. referred to Pope Francis as “Papa Ambiguous” on Monday on The Catholic Current podcast, amid otherwise endearing comments. It is true that whenever a pronouncement came from the Francis Pontificate, theologians would typically argue about what they meant, then eventually proclaim that they were so ambiguously written as to change nothing. Yet, to the secular world, and to Christians of various stripes, those writings didn’t look too ambiguous at a casual reading. Fiducia Supplicans simply was the approval of blessings for homosexual unions, as far as they could tell. That is what the media reported and what the world heard.

Likewise, when Pope Francis said that the Church’s teaching on sex is "still in diapers" while encouraging teenagers to use the hook-up app, Tinder, it seemed quite clear that he thought Church teaching on sexual morality was to be discarded as archaic.

To say that he treated the abuse crisis “ambiguously” would be rather charitable, for not only did he not treat the pederasty (adult men exploiting boys) crisis appropriately, he elevated known homosexual clergy who had been complicit in cover-ups. We can pray that perhaps Rupnik’s victims will now get some sense of peace, if new policies are put in place in which his “art” is finally removed from the walls at the Vatican and elsewhere.

We do not need to have a listing of Pope Francis’ faults before he’s even buried, but it is not healthy to engage in Catholic virtue signaling wherein one pats himself on the back for remembering and publicly stating that Francis once said something nice about the poor, and occasionally defended anti-abortion efforts (while remaining mute on a Catholic U.S. President’s support of it). It does not help the Church or the Faithful to omit the truth, especially given Pope Francis’ impact on how the Church is perceived.

It’s not merely an act of justice to cover these things fairly, but also one of mercy. A baptized child of God has died and needs our prayers. A false canonization-by-Catholic-media will only deny him such intercessions. Thus, false piety denies that which is actually moral and dutiful.

I do not align with those who believe that a Trump presidency will reverse the cultural impoverishment that is woven so deeply now into Western consciousness. He may slow the descent, certainly compared to the other option, but the momentum will be downward until Christ is restored to his rightful place as King. May the Church be given a Pope who can heal her wounds and guide the flock in the times that are to come. Let us all pray for such an outcome.