Note: The reader should take nothing in the following essay as a criticism of any individual Catholic and their faith. The Constitution, and more importantly decency and respect, protect every American’s right to worship as they see fit — or not at all. The piece is about conflicts in the religion’s senior management — specifically between American Bishops and Pope Francis.
The one true church
The Catholic Church boasts it is the “one true church.” But their boast is not unchallenged. They have competition from a variety of Christian denominations for the title*. And other faiths claim that Catholicism is not even the one true religion. These differences of opinion have often led to bloody conflict. And it is why people say you should avoid talking about religion when alcohol or guns are involved.
The Catholic Church is riven by internal debates among senior managers over the acceptable level of orthodoxy and the tone it should take. Conservatives in Church management believe that dogma is ancient and immutable — and should pay no heed to advances in social mores. The liberals (I use the term only in a relative sense) believe the Church should acknowledge that times change and Catholic orthodoxy should be a tiny bit flexible.
Pope Francis
Pope Francis represents the liberals in senior church management. While the US Catholic organization, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), exemplifies the dyed-in-the-wool traditionalists. The two groups do not see eye to eye.
The USCCB believes papal infallibility exists only as long as the Pope agrees with their view of how things ought to be. (Note: papal infallibility, while being based on centuries of thought arising from scriptural exegesis, was not formally defined until 1870)
And Pope Francis says the American bishops have a “suicidal attitude.”
60 minutes
A teaser for a '60 Minute' interview released by CBS revealed the Pope’s opinion. In the clip, Norah O’Donnell asked Francis about criticism of the Pontiff by American Bishops. The Pope explained they were dead-enders living under a rock. Although, he used different words.
Here is how the conversation went:
O’Donnell: “There are conservative bishops in the United States that oppose your new efforts to revisit teachings and traditions. How do you address their criticism?”
Francis: “You have used an adjective ‘conservative’. That is conservative is one who clings to something and does not want to see beyond that. It is a suicidal attitude. Because it is one thing to take tradition into account — to consider situations from the past. But quite another is to be closed up inside a dogmatic box.”
I am not an expert on the political knife fights of the Holy See, but that language is the rhetorical equivalent of ripping someone’s face off and pouring acid on the wound.
The Catholic Church
Non-Catholics (I am one) might assume that the Catholic Church is a monolith of groupthink. However, it is a fractious organization with a mean girls streak. For 2,000 years, ever since St Peter became the first Pope, every policy change proposed by the progressives has seen a forceful reaction from the traditionalists.
As a result, change comes slowly in the Vatican. It took 1,500 years for the Church to approve a Bible written in contemporary languages. And it has been 60 years since a Catholic Priest first celebrated mass in the vernacular. The traditionalists still have not gotten over it.
Catholicism in the US
Even in the US, Catholics are not on the same page. The USCCB may adopt a suicidal attitude, but American nuns are far more Christ-like. So much so, that they upset the Vatican’s patriarchy.
The conservatives, led by then-Pope Benedict XVI, appointed three bishops in 2012 to re-educate the American nuns’ group, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Why? The good old Vatican boys were pissed that the nuns had hosted speakers and published stuff that did not jibe with Catholic doctrine on an all-male priesthood, birth control, sexuality, and the centrality of Jesus to the faith.
Francis ended that inquisition. In his religious DNA, he found the Sisters were kindred spirits in their pastoral emphasis. Meanwhile, the Bishop’s boys club continued to demand the primacy of orthodoxy over giving a shit about the poor, the needy, and the powerless.
Francis, although he did not change a lick of Catholic doctrine, did change its official tone. The American Bishops, not so much. This intransigence is why the Catholic Church is regressing in the US. Overall, in the US, the decline in Catholicism has not been as steep as in Protestantism — due mainly to new Hispanic Catholics making up for a decrease in White Catholics.
But Catholics are attending services less and cutting back their financial contributions. This cutting back, combined with a shortage of priests, has led to parishes and parochial schools closing — especially in the traditional Catholic stronghold, the Northeast. (There are more Catholics in the South, but in percent, the Northeast is easily #1, especially for White Catholics)
Church management blames COVID, but the trend started before the pandemic. Besides, that excuse is getting long in the tooth.
The future
Where does the Catholic Church go from here? Francis is 87. He is in poor health. I have no idea who the new Pope will be. However, if the Catholic Church is to prosper, the Cardinals had better pick someone more in tune with Francis than the USCCB. Just saying.
The video
The other true churches
*According to Wikipedia: Others claiming to be the “one true church” include the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox communion, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Ancient Church of the East, the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, the Churches of Christ, and the Lutheran churches, as well as certain Baptists.