Pope’s reforms not pleasing to everyone
As Pope Francis pursues reforms to shake up a dysfunctional Vatican bureaucracy and reinvigorate an out-of-touch Catholic Church, not everyone is greeting his actions with enthusiasm. Four months into Francis’ papacy, traditionalist Catholics look on with fear as the pope calls for a greater role for women and the need to reach out to gay Catholics.
VATICAN CITY — The Francis Revolution is underway. Not everyone is pleased.
Four months into his papacy, Francis has called on young Catholics in the trenches to take up spiritual arms to shake up a dusty, doctrinaire church that is losing faithful and relevance. He has said women must have a greater role — not as priests, but a place in the church that recognizes that Mary is more important than any of the apostles. And he has turned the Vatican upside down, quite possibly knocking the wind out of a poisonously homophobic culture by merely uttering the word “gay.”
In between, he has charmed millions of faithful and the mainstream news media, drawing the second-largest crowd ever to a papal Mass. That should provide some insurance as he goes about doing what he was elected to do: reform not just the dysfunctional Vatican bu- reaucracy but the church itself, using his own persona and personal history as a model.
“He is restoring credibility to Catholicism,” said church historian Alberto Melloni.
Such enthusiasm isn’t shared across the board.
Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, had coddled traditionalist Catholics attached to the old Latin Mass and opposed to the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council. That group greeted Francis’ election with concern — and now is watching its worst fears come true. Francis has spoken out both publicly and privately against such “restoratist groups,” which he accuses of being navel-gazing retrogrades out of touch with the evangelizing mission of the church in the 21st century.
To be sure, Francis has not changed anything about church teaching. Nothing he has said or done is contrary to doctrine; everything he has said and done champions the Christian concepts of loving the sinner but not the sin and having a church that is compassionate, welcoming and merciful.
But tone and priorities can themselves constitute change, especially when considering issues that aren’t being emphasized, such as church doctrine on abortion, gay marriage and other issues frequently referenced by Benedict and Pope John Paul II.
The Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, used the word “gay” for perhaps the first time in its 150-year history on Wednesday, in an article marveling at the change Francis has brought.
He has revealed other insights that reinforce the idea that a very different papacy is underway.
» Annulments: He said the church’s judicial system of annulling marriages must be “looked at again” because church tribunals simply aren’t up to the task.
» Divorce and remarriage: He suggested an opening in church teaching that forbids a di- vorced and remarried Catholic from taking communion unless they get an annulment.
» Church governance: He said his decision to appoint eight cardinals to advise him was based on explicit requests from cardinals at the conclave that elected him who wanted “outsiders” — not Vatican officials — governing the church.