Pope Francis just finished his first U.S. visit yesterday, selling out stadiums up and down the East Coast. His visit even overshadowed the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping for much of the American public. This shouldn’t be a surprise though, because Pope Francis is widely popular. More than just being respected by various religious communities, Pope Francis has become a pop culture icon. A quick Internet search will yield a slew of articles listing the “awesome” things he has done. Much of this adoration is deserved. To name a few examples, Pope Francis has made an effort to interact with the poor — symbolically washing the feet of Muslims and women — and continues to promote environmentalism. However, people should not let Pope Francis’ deluge of good PR hide the fact that he hasn’t addressed many key conflicts the Catholic Church is facing.
The most egregious example of this is sex abuse in the Church. Since 2004, there have been over 3,400 reported cases officially reported by the Vatican of people being sexually abused by Catholic priests. Though Pope Francis has removed a Bishop involved in a sexual abuse scandal and has made a concerted effort to meet with victims, his actions are only symbolic at best. Each year the Vatican pays millions of dollars to settle sexual abuse cases, instead of admitting fault and outing its priests. Using huge amounts of money to protect sexual abusers actively works against the Church’s mission to help the underprivileged. Though the last data on this practice come from 2013, there is no reason or indication the Church’s policy has changed. This is a practice Pope Francis has not even addressed, despite his strong message of helping the poor. As long as the Catholic Church continues this practice it demonstrates it really cares about its reputation first and the victims second.
Pope Francis has also dodged the issue of gay marriage. The Church is officially against gay marriage but the Pope has been trying to play both sides. He says that he is “not one to judge” a homosexual person while also calling them “socially wounded.” He preaches a gospel of universal acceptance that gives rise to new headlines like ‘Pope Francis Shares Support of Gay Marriage’ while also explicitly saying that gay marriage is not “natural.” The fact that Pope Francis has such high approval numbers from the general public while holding an opinion that the majority of Americans are against is an indication that he is working to obscure public perception of himself. With doublespeak Pope Francis remains hugely popular while drawing attention away from a very large conflict the Church is facing.
Pope Francis has also done nothing to address the inherent sexism in the Church. He has unequivocally supported the position of the Church that no woman can be ordained. He reassured the congregation that women had other important roles they could play in the Church — just not ones in the priesthood. For me this rings too much of a “separate but equal” policy that works in name only. I am perplexed that a Church that has let so many pedophiles remain priests does not allow people whom they make saints to be ordained.
The defense many people raise when Pope Francis is criticized for his lack of real change is to point out how little power the Pope really has. Officially, the Pope is only there to dictate the doctrine of the Church, not shape it. However, Pope Francis can shape the dogma of the Church, which basically means he can interpret doctrine in different ways. Wielding dogmatic power, Pope Francis can make real changes in how Catholics view different issues.
According to doctrine, the Catholic Church does not see its stance on any of the issues discussed above as problematic. However, for many people these stances are a problem. People’s opinions are drifting away from that of the Church and if the Church wants to prosper it will have to change, too. Pope Francis has already shown his tendency for more liberal policies and is wildly popular. The problem is that he refuses to give voice to an alternative view on issues, following the dogma of previous Popes instead of forming his own. Pope Francis now needs to use his position as leader of the Church to shape dogma instead of dancing around the problems Catholicism is facing.
Bobby Doyle is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at b.doyle@cavalierdaily.com.
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