Now that he’s laid to rest, here is my post-mortem on Pope Francis. I’ll try to keep this short and to the point….
Pope Francis was very much a man of his time. He was a product of Vatican II, and a priest of the 1970s and 80s. Francis embodied the mindset and attitude of the post-conciliar Church. He alienated good Catholics, while making compromises to appease people who would never become Catholic.
He endeared himself to the legacy media, and knew how to work the press. As a result, they never stopped fawning over him. This helped to shape his public persona as the “people’s pope.” He created a public image of humility and compassion, while simultaneously playing loose and fast with Church doctrine.
It is not my place to judge if he was a good and holy person. God has already decided that. Holy Mother Church will evaluate his life over time. My only judgment of him is that he was too weak in character and formation to be the pope. He should have never been elected. Shame on those cardinals who burdened us with his pontificate. The fault is theirs and theirs alone.
Shane Schaetzel is an author of Catholic books and he is an Evangelical convert to the Catholic Church. His articles have been featured on LifeSiteNews, The Remnant Newspaper, Forward in Christ, and Catholic Online. You can read Shane’s books at ShaneSchaetzel.Com
My biggest complaint about Francis is the way he refused to get tough with the homosexuals, the other sexual predators in the priesthood, and their enablers.And since he moved several of these men into the cardinality, unless a miracle happens, we can expect more of the same.