Pope Francis: Aspects of a Papacy

After reflection and having reviewed what I had written during the twelve years of the reign of the late Pope Francis I’d like to add my own modest comments to the subject.  The literature on the Pope which has appeared since his death is already immense. Some is perceptive, others fantastic nonsense. Some articles are critical others hagiographic – in some cases literally, as there are already calls for the canonization of Francis. Perusing the contributions  of the Francis enthusiasts, however, I note that they generally praise Francis not so much for what he did but for what he said and for the political positions he took which were aligned with those of Western secular society.

The Roots of the “Worldview “of Pope Francis

In my view the first key to Francis was his training in the official Church bureaucracy:  starting  in the Jesuit order and later as a member of the hierarchy. The second factor was his commitment to Vatican II. As to the latter, the result of the 1960s revolution in the Church had been to institutionalize a regime that on the one hand repudiated the Catholic past to a greater or lesser degree and on the other, welcomed the secular influence of the “modern world.” This dramatic reorientation, however, preserved the existing bureaucratic structure of the Church, and indeed depended on it for its implementation.

These two aspects of the Catholic Church coincided in the Jesuit order –  the spiritual home of Bergoglio. The Jesuits were among the most aggressive in implementing “the Council” while giving it a specifically secular cast. I can recall witnessing in the early 1970s  a clash between a leading Jesuit liturgist and some of his colleagues on the faculty of Georgetown University regarding the renovation of the university chapel. (There were no traditionalists active at that time!) The demeanor of the Jesuit was arrogant,  confrontational and openly contemptuous of the views of his opponents. I often recalled this experience when reading of the not dissimilar demeanor of Pope Francis. And in this very year another Jesuit liturgist speaking at another of the order’s universities demanded the summary and final abolition of the Traditional Mass. In both these cases Jesuits reduce an issue to a black-and-white, purely ideological confrontation with an “enemy,” without regard to other consequences. For the Georgetown chapel, once renovated, had to be restored again at considerable expense, and for those who frequent the Traditional Mass, as the website of the German bishops puts it, they may “fall by the wayside.” 

Of course, there was one radical difference between the behavior of Jesuits in the early 1970s and that today.  In the earlier era the Jesuits were openly contemptuous of Pope Paul VI. They acted on behalf of the Council and its “spirit,” regardless of Pope Paul’s “views.” (In any case, by that time they knew that Pope Paul would hardly ever act against them.). Under Francis, they can invoke blind obedience to the authority of the pope and the Council.

The innovation of Francis  – the leading example of his “cunning” – is the systematic deployment of the language, images and acts of papal absolutism in the service of the revolutionary cause. (In a sense this had already happened under Paul VI, however,  that pontiff was able to better disguise the nature of his authoritarian acts.) Francis understood that since 1968 the forces opposing or at least trying to slow down the course of reform had relied on papal authority as their ultimate bastion – exemplified by the regime of John Paul II. Moreover, given the bureaucratic nature of the Church it would be impossible for most priests and bishops to publicly oppose papal authority.  

Francis further understood the strength that the papal cult retained despite all the disorders of the post-Conciliar years.  For the Pope was now widely perceived as a “visionary” expected to stamp the Church with his spiritual ideals. The pope thus assumed  the status of a founder of a Catholic religious movement. This explains Bergoglio’s choice of the name “Francis.”

The post Vatican II era, however, had revealed that media support could serve as an effective shield against papal authority. Pope Francis would make sure that would not be an issue for him. For another key aspect of the Bergoglio papacy was the aggressive courting of the secular news media. This also required establishing the best of relations with the Catholic progressive forces and institutions that are allied with these media. Francis understood the great fear the higher clergy had of the media. He also understood that most Catholics got their information about the Church from the secular media. His successful media policy meant that from the beginning to the end of his papacy the words and acts of Francis were shrouded in a bodyguard of lies. For the public image of Francis often had nothing to do with the reality. 

I do not think that the substance of the policies of Francis is confusing or contradictory at all. I think we should take him at his word –  that he wanted to complete and make permanent the changes made to the Church in the 1960s. Whereas in the 1960s the enemy in the mind of the Catholic reformers was the Church as it had existed under Pius XII, for Pope Francis and his allies the target was the Church of Benedict XVI and John Paul II. The limited measures these two popes had had taken to redress the balance within the Church would now be systematically attacked and overthrown. With that accomplished, the progressive agenda would be rolled out once again. For the demands of the progressives had fossilized in the 1960’s and 70’s.

Traditionalism

The new Pope’s animosity to Catholic traditionalism was absolutely clear from the earliest days of his papacy. Consider the actions taken in 2013 against the Friars of the Immaculate and the constant disparaging language employed by Francis in reference to traditionalists. Yet, up to 2021 the traditionalist movement seems to have expanded its reach despite the overt hostility of Francis. Perhaps this was attributable to the demoralization of the Catholic conservatives – the closest alternative on the “right.” The conservatives saw their confident predictions in ecclesiastical politics proved worthless, their secular policies and alliances rejected and, above all, were disowned by their chief support –  the papacy. 

In 2021,  Francis decided to put an end to this situation by promulgating Traditionis Custodes (“TC”)after a typically opaque, manipulative and convoluted introductory buildup. The Catholic traditionalist movement was to be wiped out entirely regardless of the consequences to the clergy and laity involved in it. It was just one more example of the Roman Catholic Church repudiating an alleged achievement of Vatican II  – in this case, religious liberty.

However, it became clear early on that there were limits on the war of annihilation against traditionalism. Most notably, the Ecclesia Dei communities, instead being subjected to further restrictions in the implementation of TC, were for the time being spared. In many places traditionalist masses continued despite the provisions of TC. Monasteries and convents still adhered to the traditional  liturgy. And, in the background, the FSSPX continued on its course.

What developed was an arbitrary, unsystematic and lawless persecution. Under Francis the anti-traditionalist campaign became an essential element of the culture of the Catholic Church.  Traditionalist orders and priests still remained subject to summary expulsion from churches and dioceses. Catholic traditionalist masses continued to be terminated without explanation  – a process that continued in places such as Detroit up to the week before Francis  died. And the process of investigating the Ecclesia Dei communities had been restarted. 

But despite all the coercive actions and invective directed against it, the traditionalist movement did not collapse.  Masses are still celebrated widely;  the Ecclesia Dei communities continued to exist and continued to ordain priests. A seemingly endless stream of traditionalist literature was published. An ever-greater number of lay organizers and publicists stepped into the shoes of the clergy. In 2012 I had asked myself if the current generation of traditionalists had any idea of the long and tortuous struggle that had been necessary to achieve what was then in place. Now I can say that today’s young traditionalists have themselves lived and suffered through a similar and, in some respects, even more severe struggle, and have survived.

The Church Today

What is true of the war of Pope Francis against traditionalism also applies to his other initiatives. Wide sections of the Church have not accepted his institutionalization of divorce, recognition of  LGBT practice or unlimited ecumenism. The result is a continuation and intensification of the chaos that has prevailed in the Roman Catholic Church since the 1960s. It is no longer a question of a divergence between an establishment and “dissenters” –  if that ever was in fact the case – but of differences at the highest levels of church authority on the most fundamental issues. 

It is a conflict that largely takes place outside of the public’s view. The progressives and Pope Francis’s allies are loud and aggressive in propagating their views, their opponents have to be more discreet. Francis first tolerated a German synodal path and then spread it to the rest of the Church – all under the supervision of reliably progressive bishops and bureaucrats. Despite endless talk only the agenda of the progressives is on the table. 

But despite it all, Francis sensed there were limits beyond which he could not (immediately) go. This explains, for example, his drawn-out struggle to establish married priests and female clergy,  a measure that seemed on the brink of realization in 2019. I think Francis understood that to immediately impose the full agenda of his progressive allies would likely lead to a disintegration of the Church into an Anglican-style family of ecclesiastical entities. While forces such as the German church might have welcomed that prospect, Pope Francis and his more direct allies wanted to preserve the institution as well as implementing progressive demands.

What are the practical aspects of this regime? From the very beginning of his papacy Pope Francis unleashed an unending barrage of high-handed administrative actions. All of them tended towards the consolidation of power in his own hands. It became very clear that no prior customs, laws, traditions or principles bound Francis. Indeed, he repeatedly reversed his own recent decisions and those of his subordinates. Ultimately, the only authority in the Catholic Church became the will of Francis, as expressed at the current moment. There was a virtual dissolution of law within the Catholic Church.  Institutions such as the college of  Cardinals were virtually abolished. A cleric’s status within the Church was determined not by any external rank  but by the degree of friendship with Francis. And that friendship could be fleeting….

Within the clerical ranks and the church bureaucracy a pervasive climate of fear took hold. We have read about the animosity engendered in institutions like the curia or the diocese of Rome which had ongoing direct contact with Francis. But fear became a worldwide phenomenon as Francis used his nuncios and diplomats as informers and enforcers. We all know of the most spectacular instances of the removal of bishops without any procedure or “due process.” But the same fear was experienced at a much less exalted level. Clerics asked  not to be photographed or that their names be removed from online records of events  – like traditional Masses –   in which they had taken part years ago. Titles of conferences were rewritten to obscure their relationship with, for example, traditionalism or the personal enemies of Francis.

While these internal struggles proceed,  the institutional decline of the Roman Catholic Church continues and accelerates. Especially in the Western, more economically advanced societies, ordinations continue to decline, religious communities disappear, parishes are merged out of existence, schools are shut and the practice and knowledge of the Catholic faith among the laity reaches catastrophically low levels. None of these things seems to trouble the representatives of the institutional Roman Catholic Church. For an institutional fantasy world dominates all levels of the Church – except for some commentators who can be safely disregarded.  

The question of what happens next is more uncertain than usual. It’s always a safe bet to predict that the next Pope will be in some way a continuation of his predecessor  – one sees that in some of the current media lists of papabile. I would only say that in the past such “official” predictions have been egregiously wrong –  such as in 1978, 2005 and 2013!  And let us remember the increasing fracturing of the Roman Catholic Church into antagonistic worlds with differing religious practices and theologies. The division of the Church into “friends of Francis” and “enemies” will not end with his death. 

The central institutions of the Church likewise have been changed and weakened. A system of governance that has been reduced to a conveyor belt for the pope’s actions and ideas, once deprived of its head, cannot operate autonomously. Do many of the Cardinals really know each other? It will be difficult if not impossible to identify a man that could hold the clerical institution together under such circumstances.

In Conclusion

As traditionalists we can only stay the course.  Traditionalism  has survived nearly four years of official persecution by the Catholic Church. We are still standing. On the other hand, the vision of Francis has failed to materialize both in the Church and in the secular world. What will come next we do not know.  What we do know is that those who have survived such trials, developing their spiritual and intellectual life, should not fear to face the future.