A Tiber Never Changes His Stripes

Saturday, April 26, 2025

Today Pope Francis is laid to rest. Since his election 13 years ago, he has been branded as a liberal. But I think it’s important for religious literacy to clarify what this means.

The Roman Catholic Church is a massive institution. It may well be the largest landlord on earth. It loves ritual, order, bureaucracy. It is not efficient. It is not democratic. It makes the Windsors look like middle class salt of the earth.

Every pope comes to the throne of Peter bound by the decisions of his predecessors when it comes to doctrine (official beliefs). This is sometimes hard for North Americans to understand, as mainline Jewish and Protestant groups have their own governance which often includes a body that is democratic in nature, and which is able to change the rules. See the recent struggle of the United Methodists. The fifty year journey to full acceptance of queer people by the UMC looks rash and irresponsible compared to the Catholic process of addressing issues.

This is a personal peeve of mine, when a pope comes to power and people clamor for some radical new declaration about women priests or gay marriage or trans rights (or alternatively, the renunciation of Vatican II and the reimplementation of Latin, a language Jesus didn’t speak). It’s not going to happen, it cannot happen. They’re not going to dump the Trinity for strict monotheism, and they’re not going to change their teachings on gender, sex, sexuality, etc.

So I’m a little itchy when people look back on Francis’ pontificate and laud (or, alternatively for the rad trades, denounce) him for his progressive stances. He did not move the needle on any doctrine. The most he did was to demonstrate and encourage other priests to demonstrate, a compassionate approach to all people regardless of their sexuality, divorce status, gender, etc. Basically he said to his fellow prelates “don’t be a dick.” There is value in this approach. It calls on clergy to be more like Jesus, hanging out and being kind to people of all backgrounds, but it doesn’t call on the magesterium to fully embrace anything or anyone outside the doctrinal box.

So again we are reminded that two things can be true—Francis was kinder than many of his predecessors, and he didn’t waver from doctrinal discipline. All things considered, may he rest in eternal peace.