Francis Has Troubles Handling Criticism


The Corriere della Sera (February 15) published excerpts of the talks Pope Francis had in January in Chile and Peru with local Jesuits.

Francis told them that he considers criticisms against his controversial moves either a “misunderstanding” or a thing that he ignores. He accuses his critics to “relativize, to water down the [Second Vatican] Council”, a standard insult used by ultraliberals in the Seventies and Eighties against those they perceive has their enemies.

Instead of looking at the problems his controversial leadership has created, Francis claims that “it is normal that there is resistance when somebody wants to make changes.” This is a straw-man argument because the problem is not “changes” but Francis’ liberal ideology which has disastrous effects whenever applied to the Church.

Instead of facing the criticisms, Francis prefers to ignore them: “For mental health I do not read the websites of this so-called ‘resistance’.”

He is also unable to handle problems without personalizing them, “Some resistance comes from people who believe they have the true doctrine and accuse you of being a heretic.” Instead of dealing with arguments, Francis prefers to “pray” for those who point out to his mistakes.

The universal recipe for Francis is “discernment”. It means for him that there is no clear distinction between right and wrong. Disparagingly he speaks about a mentality of “you may or you may not” or “until here you can go and until here you cannot go”. With such a way of thinking it is indeed difficult to understand that, for instance, sexual abuse and other sins are always wrong.

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