Pope Francis’s many critics included a one-time aide and the Vatican’s ex-ambassador to the US
Pope Francis’s many critics included a one-time aide and the Vatican’s ex-ambassador to the US
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis probably expected that he would face opposition to his reform agenda after Catholics for two generations grew used to more conservative, doctrine-minded pontiffs.
But his critics — most of them emanating from the church’s conservative wing — were unique in that at least for the first years of his pontificate, they had a living alternate as a point of reference: Pope Benedict XVI.
Some of the critics who made their mark during Francis’ pontificate:
Benedict’s camp
Benedict’s longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, was a bridge between the reigning and retired popes. After Benedict retired in 2013, Gaenswein remained as his secretary while also serving Francis as the head of the papal household.
Gaenswein was widely seen as the key figure behind one of the most visible signs of the break between the two pontificates. In 2020, Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, the Vatican’s retired liturgy chief, wrote a book with Benedict reaffirming priestly celibacy at a time when Francis was considering ordaining married men to address a clergy shortage in the Amazon.
The book, and the prospect of a retired pope trying to influence a reigning one, created the scenario that canon lawyers and theologians had warned of in 2013, when Benedict decided to retain the white cassock of the papacy in retirement as “Emeritus Pope.” The scandal died down after Benedict removed himself as a co-author and Francis fired Gaenswein from his papal household job.
But the bad blood didn’t end there. Just days after Benedict’s 2023 funeral, Gaenswein published a tell-all memoir that was highly critical of Francis. He was exiled from the Vatican by Francis and, after a time without a job in his native Germany, was made an ambassador.
The ‘Dubia’ cardinals
Conservative and traditionalist Catholics were wary of Francis from his 2013 election, when he first addressed the crowd without the ermine-rimmed, red velvet cape of his predecessors.
Significantly, Francis reimposed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass that Benedict had relaxed. Francis insisted his aim was church unity. Critics accused him of being divisive, and the outrage wasn’t limited to U.S.-based conservative Catholic media or fringe right-wing bloggers.
One breaking point came in 2016, when Francis opened the door to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive Communion. Some accused him of heresy.
Four conservative cardinals formally asked him to clarify himself, issuing “dubia” or questions to him. They argued church doctrine held that Catholics who remarried without a church annulment were living in sin and couldn’t receive the sacraments. He never replied.
One of them, Cardinal Raymond Burke, had been sidelined by Francis early in his pontificate, removing him as the Vatican’s supreme court judge. Then he pushed him aside as the prelate to the Knights of Malta. After Burke joined a bigger group of cardinals questioning Francis’ 2023 synod on the church’s future, Francis cut him off financially.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano
Francis’ biggest conservative critic was the Vatican’s former ambassador to the U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano. In 2018, he said Francis had covered up accusations that then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, an American, had slept with his seminarians.
Vigano demanded Francis resign for allegedly rehabilitating McCarrick from sanctions imposed by Benedict. The furor faded after Francis defrocked McCarrick and Vigano was discredited with conspiracy theories about COVID-19. McCarrick died earlier this month.
In 2024, Francis excommunicated Vigano after finding him guilty of schism.
