Pope Francis Calls Out American Catholics for Politicizing Religion

The Pope's comments came at a meeting with Jesuits in Portugal

Pope FrancisPhoto byAshwin VaswanionUnsplash

Pope Francis has criticized the "backwardness" of some conservatives in the United States Catholic Church, saying they have replaced faith with political ideology.

Francis made the comments during a private meeting on August 5th in Lisbon with members of the Jesuit religious order, of which he is a member, during his trip for World Youth Day. They were published on Monday by the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica, which is vetted by the Vatican secretariat of state.

The remarks are an acknowledgment of divisions in the U.S. Catholic Church where conservatives had long found support on issues of abortion and same-sex marriage in the papacies of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

Conservative Catholics in the U.S. have also blasted Francis' emphasis on social justice issues such as the environment and the poor, and his calls for the church to be more welcoming and less judgmental towards some, including the LGBTQ+ community.

During the meeting, Francis responded to a Portuguese Jesuit who told him that he had come across many Catholics, including some U.S. bishops, who were critical of Francis' leadership during a year-long sabbatical in the United States.

Francis said there was "a very strong, organized, reactionary attitude" in the U.S. church, which he called "backward."

He went on to warn that such an attitude leads to a climate of closure. "In this way, the true tradition is lost and you turn to ideologies for support. In other words, ideologies replace faith," he said.

"I want to remind these people that backwardness is useless, and they must understand that there's a correct evolution in the understanding of questions of faith and morals" that allows for Catholic doctrine to progress and consolidate over time.

As an example, he said some pontiffs had been tolerant of slavery long ago but "things are different today."

"The view of the doctrine of the church as a monolith is wrong," he added. "When you go backward, you make something closed off, disconnected from the roots of the church...and age effects on morale are devastating."

Francis has previously acknowledged the criticism directed at him from some conservative Catholics.

"There are priests even who make nasty comments about me," he said in 2021. "Sometimes I lose my patience, especially when they make judgments without entering into a real dialogue. You can't do anything with that."

In 2019, he quipped that it was an "honor" to be attacked by Americans while aboard the papal plane, the National Catholic Register reported.