THE OPPONENTS OF POPE FRANCIS
By John R. Connolly

      The conservative Catholics who vehemently denounce and oppose Pope Francis are clearly advocates of John Paul II’s institutional view of the church, with its centralization of all authority in the infallible magisterium as constituted during the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. In their efforts to proclaim themselves as the self-appointed arbiters of orthodoxy, these opponents of Pope Francis seem to have adopted the following principles. First, in agreement with John Paul II’s understanding of the magisterium, they maintain that all of the teachings of the church are definitive and infallible, either because they have been formally defined, or are infallible taught in the ordinary magisterium, or they are not formally defined, but are waiting to be infallibly defined. They appear to be oblivious to part 3 of Canon 749 which states, “No doctrine is understood as defined infallibly unless this is manifestly evident.” Secondly, they appear to have totally rejected the traditional Catholic distinction between infallible and noninfallible teachings of the church. In their minds all the pronouncements of the institutional church, even in matters of church governance and discipline, require an unconditional acceptance without any dissent. Any dissent is viewed as a violation of faith and considered disloyal to the pope and the institutional church. Thirdly, as a result they tend to identify the actual teachings of the church with matters of discipline. The most infamous example of this is their attempt to raise the church’s disciplinary rule on celibacy to an article of faith. They identify the church’s disciplinary rule that forbids divorce and remarried Catholics from receiving communion with the church’s teaching on the absolute indissolubility of a sacramental marriage. Finally, like the institutional church of John Paul II they, as a general rule, tend to be suspicious of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and, for the most part, reject them.
     
     In addition, these conservative Catholics present their interpretations on the teachings of the church as if they were only orthodox positions. Anyone who even raises a question about one of their pronouncements is labeled either as an unfaithful Catholic, an apostate, a heretic, in schism, or all of the above. These conservative Catholics are very similar to the gnostics that Pope Francis describes in Gaudete Et Exsultate, his apostolic exhortation on holiness. Gnostics claim that the doctrinal explanations of the Gospel make the faith perfectly comprehensible. They fail to acknowledge the mystery that embodies all Christian teachings. They seek to “domesticate the mystery. (GEE, 40). Gnostics absolutize their own theories and force others to submit to their way of thinking. (GEE, 39). They consider their own vision of reality to be perfect. Gnostics pretend to have an answer for every question and give the impression that everything in the Gospel is clear and sure. Pope Francis points out that it is not easy to grasp the truths of faith and that it is even more difficult to express them. (GEE, 43). Francis refers to the fact that, in the history of the formulation of doctrines, there has always been an accepted diversity. He states that “in the Church there legitimately coexist different ways of interpreting many aspects of doctrine and Christian life…” (GEE, 43). To this he adds that the faith acceptance of the doctrinal formulations of the church does not rule out the “dynamic capacity to pose questions, doubts, inquiries…” (GEE, 44).
     
​      Finally, make no mistake about it, the arrogance and vehemence of these conservative critics of Pope Francis goes far beyond what one would expect from a group of Catholics who might simply want to have Pope Francis address their concerns. Their charges against Pope Francis are based upon distortions, misinformation, and false accusations. They are totally unsubstantiated and without any foundation in truth. In their intensity, these attacks have been extremely vicious, unfair, unjust, mean spirited, and hardly Christian. Not only do these conservative Catholics intend to oppose Pope Francis’ reform of the church, they want to overthrow his papacy. They do not want dialogue. They want political and theological control of the Catholic Church.