Pope Francis agitates conservative U.S. Catholics

A senior American cardinal in the Vatican says that under this pope, the Roman Catholic Church is “a ship without a rudder” and the faithful “are feeling a bit seasick.”

 

Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput complains that a recent Vatican conference called by Pope Francis produced “confusion,” adding, “Confusion is of the devil.”

 

A group of conservative lay Catholics say they felt “betrayed” by a preliminary report from the conference that proposed a more welcoming attitude toward gay men and lesbians.

 

Turnabout is supposed to be fair play, but for these and other U.S. Catholic conservatives and traditionalists, the papacy of Francis also seems to be infuriating, worrying or just plain puzzling.

 

“The conservatives had it all their way for about 30 years, and now the shoe might be on the other foot,” says the Rev. Paul Sullins, a priest who teaches sociology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. “Now they feel on the outside a little bit, which is exactly how the progressives used to feel.”

 

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