Criticism of Pope Francis as a Crisis of Faith and a Hindrance to Evangelization

Abstract

Aim: To examine the criticisms directed at Pope Francis’s pontificate by certain high-ranking Church prelates and Croatian Catholic-themed websites, with the aim of showing that negative criticism of Pope Francis constitutes an obstacle to evangelization because it creates divisions within the Church.

Methods: The study was conducted using the theological-pastoral methodology of the Lateran School, in which the criticisms directed at Pope Francis are presented, followed by the role and importance of the pope as the successor of the Apostle Peter, and finally, the reasons why public criticism of the pope is neither in the Catholic spirit nor in the Church’s interest.

Results: Our findings are presented in three parts. The first addresses the manner and motives behind the attacks on Pope Francis. The second outlines the Catholic Church’s teaching on the Roman Pontiff. The third part highlights the presence of postmodernity within the Church and the internal conflict and inconsistency among Pope Francis’s critics, many of whom passionately defended tradition, yet fiercely attack the papacy as the institution that safeguards that tradition. Collectively, these actions, centering on negative criticisms of Pope Francis, hinder evangelization by enabling divisions within the Church. After analyzing over 70 articles from two Croatian catholic websites (katolik.hr and vjeraidjela.com) in which Pope Francis is explicitly mentioned, results show that katolik.hr had 4 articles presented Pope Francis in a positive light, 20 were neutral, and 26 portrayed him in a distinctly negative tone. On vjeraidjela.com, one article portrayed Pope Francis positively as someone who contributes to the faith, three were neutral, and six were negative, with a critical perspective on his papacy.

Conclusions: Public criticism of the Roman pontiff through mass media presents a real barrier to the evangelizing mission of the Church, especially when such criticisms come from within the Catholic community, whether from clergy or laity. Criticisms directed at Pope Francis often reflected an immature faith and a theologically rigid mindset.