Are Pope Francis and US Catholic leadership in a ‘holy war’?

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the 266th head of the Church of Rome on March, 13 2013. As Pope Francis, he brought a lot of expectation of reform within a millennial institution. However, he also gained criticism from conservative Catholics in the US.

According to Associated Press, Pope Francis blasted against conservative members of the US Catholic Church, arguing that they have replaced faith with ideology.

The comment, made during the World Youth Day in Lisbon in 2023, admittedly was a source of friction between the pontiff and some within US Catholic leadership, Reuters reveals.

“You have seen that in the United States the situation is not easy: there is a very strong reactionary attitude. It is organised and shapes the way people belong, even emotionally,” the pope responded to the press, per Reuters.

Former US priest Frank Pavone gave his take to Newsweek: “It comes across as judgmental. It also comes across as he doesn't understand America too well," he said. "Of course, we're going to be involved in politics. This is America.”

Pavone was defrocked in 2022 due to “blasphemous communications on social media”, among other things for heavily campaigning against abortion, and insulting Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.

A staunch Trump supporter, according to Newsweek Pavone allegedly placed an aborted fetus on a church altar to show his support to Donald Trump when he was running for US President.

In 2023, Joseph Strickland was dismissed as bishop of Tyler, Texas, something very rare as bishops are generally requested to resign. No reason was given by the Vatican nor the US Bishops Conference.

Image: brojomnick / Unsplash

Strickland has been described by several news outlets as one of the pope’s biggest critics within the US Catholic Church.

According to The Guardian, the former Catholic bishop voiced opposition to the pontiff’s request to make the Church of Rome more open to LGBTQ people and attempts to give laypeople more control within the institution.

However, numbers reveal that Pavone and Strickland and many US conservative Catholics who oppose the current pontiff seem to be a vocal minority.

21% of the US adult population identify as Catholic, as opposed to circa 40% that are protestant, making the Catholic Church the second biggest Christian denomination in the United States.

A 2021 survey by the Pew Research Center shows that 82% of US Catholics have a favorable view of Pope Francis.

Politically, US Catholics are split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, and their voting tends to reflect more their political alignment than the Church’s teachings.

However, the Pew Research Center study reveals that Hispanic Catholics tend to be more left-leaning than their non-Hispanic fellow worshipers.

What is true is that during his 10 years as head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has made quite a difference compared to his predecessors. However, time will tell if all this talk and good wishes stand the test of time.