Why Do So Many American Catholics Hate Pope Francis?

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In the past several posts, I have been discussing the jihad declared against Pope Francis by some conservative/traditional mostly American Catholics whom I have labeled Those More Catholic Than the Pope ("TMCTP"). I give them this title because they believe that Pope Francis is barely Catholic, if at all.

TMCTP, as shown by their blogs and websites which I call Catholicspeak, believe Pope Francis is actually trying to destroy the Catholic Church, changing it into a liberal wasteland where anything goes.

TMCTP was afraid of Pope Francis from the moment he stepped onto the papal balcony because he did not look like a traditional pope.

Here is Pope Benedict when he was elected alongside Pope Francis at his election. As you can see, Francis is definitely not into all of the pomp and circumstance that often comes with the papacy. This completely horrified TMCTP.

And as it turns out, TMCTP was right to sense that we were seeing something very new in Pope Francis.

Here are just a few of the "firsts" in just the first ten months of Pope Francis' papacy as listed in an article from Quora :

• He refused to wear ermine-lined capes other popes wore.
• Rather than blessing the people in St. Peter's Square on his election, he asked the people to bless him.
• He refuses to ride in a bullet-proof Mercedes limousine, riding on a bus with other cardinals right after his election, using a Ford Focus around Rome and driving himself around the Vatican in a 1984 Renault.
• He refers to himself as "Bishop of Rome" rather than as "Supreme Pontiff."
• He has stated he intends to transform the Synod of Bishops to a decision-making body rather than a ceremonial rubber stamp.
• He refused to live in the Apostolic Palace, instead living in a guest home and dining in the cafeteria.
• He has consistently used a more familiar, direct and casual way of speaking, versus the highly formal and circumlocutory tone used by previous popes.
• He has spoken against clericalism, versus other popes who promoted clericalism, e.g. Pope Benedict's "Year of the Priest"
• He has reached out to atheists.
• He sends personal hand-written letters and makes personal phone calls rather than having his secretary send formal messages on his behalf.
• He directed the Office of the Synod of Bishops to distribute a questionnaire to Catholic laity to understand their thoughts on marriage, contraception, divorce and same-sex marriage.
• He has called for a reform in how priests are trained so they don't become "little monsters."
• He has said he intends to decentralize the Church, de-emphasizing the role of the pope.
• He has stated the Church's priority is service to the poor.
• He has reversed the previous pope's favoritism toward those who insist on Latin and old-fashioned liturgical approaches.
• He has said the hierarchy should speak less about contraception, abortion and same-sex marriage, versus previous popes who specifically stated these were priorities for the Church.
• He gives interviews to media outlets.
• He has washed the feet of laity (in fact, prisoners, women and Muslims) on Holy Thursday, versus previous popes who would only wash the feet of priests. This is important because his act directly violates liturgical rules that state that only men may have their feet washed on Holy Thursday (a rule many priests and deacons also ignore worldwide).
• He says daily Mass in a public place, for janitors and secretaries and security guards, versus other popes who only invited wealthy and influential people to daily Mass in their private chapel.
• He has given a new profile to the post of the Papal Almoner (the person responsible for helping the poor in Rome) and has initiated new programs of gifts and other assistance to the homeless in Rome. He invited Roman homeless people to his birthday breakfast.
• He has instructed the curia and the nuncios (ambassadors) to nominate as bishops men who are merciful and pastoral, versus previous popes who directed that bishops be chosen for their doctrinal loyalty and willingness to pick public fights.
• He has announced he intends radical reform of the Vatican.
• In the first public document he wrote himself, Evangelii Gaudium, he cited as teaching authorities not just popes and councils, but national episcopal conferences, which no pope has done in the past. He has stated that national episcopal councils should be free to make doctrinal statements, while previous popes have sought to diminish the role of national episcopal conferences.
• He attracted in his first eight months three times the number of people who would annually come to see Benedict XVI.
• He enjoys an unprecedented 95 percent approval rating among Catholics in the United States.


All of these "firsts" can be boiled down to basically one thing: people are more important to Pope Francis than tradition, rules, regulations and the physical trappings of the Papacy.

The biggest concern of Pope Francis is bringing the love and mercy of God to the people, and he will tear down any and all obstacles which stand in the way of accomplishing that goal.

There are a couple more "firsts" that are not mentioned in the list above. Pope Francis is the first Jesuit Pope and the first Pope from the Americas.

Pope Francis is also the first Pope to choose his name after St. Francis of Assisi.

Choosing the name "Francis" after St. Francis of Assisi is highly significant.

St. Francis of Assisi was the son of a wealthy businessman and lived a hedonistic lifestyle as a soldier. Francis loved to party. But he didn't really know what he wanted to do with his life.

One day while wandering in the hills around Assisi, he came upon an old, dilapidated church in San Damiano. He knelt down in front of a large crucifix and asked the Lord what he should do with his life.

Francis heard a clear voice say to him, “Francis, go and rebuild my church which, as you see, is falling down.”

Without hesitation, Francis gave his life to Jesus Christ. He abruptly turned his back on everything, throwing away all of his material possessions including the clothes on his back. He proceeded to live a life of complete poverty, begging for the little food that he ate.

St. Francis lived the simplest of lives, disdaining everything about this world, caring only to serve Jesus Christ. Our Lord honored him when St. Francis became the first person to ever receive the stigmata.

St. Francis of Assisi lived over 800 years ago but is still recognized around the world by Catholics and non-Catholics alike as one of the greatest saints in Church history.

Custom hand carved relief of Saint Francis titled,
"Francis Rebuild My Church".

When Jorge Bergoglio chose the name "Francis", he was broadcasting just how revolutionary his papacy was to be.  Like his name sake, Pope Francis is responding to the message of rebuilding the Church.  

Like St. Francis, Pope Francis is not concerned about shoring up the physical structures of the Church.  It is about building up the Holy Spirit in the Church.  It about infusing the love of Jesus Christ in the Church, bringing the Church back to her roots as evangelizer, spreading the saving love and mercy of the Gospel.  It is about showing the true face of Jesus Christ to a world that is lost and dying.  

TMCTP, a/k/a those who hate and oppose Pope Francis, are in complete opposition to Pope Francis because they feel that the "structure" of the Church, i.e., the traditions, are the most important part of the Church.  

TMCTP feels the Church is defined by tradition.  Their favorite verse in the Bible is this:  

By this shall men know that you are my disciples, that you l̶o̶v̶e̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ follow tradition.

Oops. Sorry,  Guess that isn't actually in the Bible.  But you wouldn't know it by TMCTP.

First of all, it is very important to note that there is a huge difference between "tradition" and "dogma."  Dogma is the unbreakable, unchangeable beliefs of the Catholic Church.  Tradition with a small "t" is all about doing things as they have always been done.

A great example of ignoring tradition was when Pope Francis decided to change the rules regarding the washing of feet on Holy Thursday.  Traditionally, only men were allowed to have their feet washed, and it was required that these men be Catholics in good standing.  This came about because Scripture tells us that Christ washed only the feet of the apostles at the Last Supper.

Pope Francis threw that tradition out the window and said all people need to be served, not just Catholic men.  Most importantly, we must serve the poor.  The Holy Father not only included women, he purposely chose prisoners, refugees, drug addicts, many of whom were not Catholic.

Pope Francis blessed an inmate during the foot-washing at Holy Thursday Mass at Rebibbia prison
in Rome in 2015. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

This did not change dogma in any way.  But you wouldn't know it by the reaction from TMCTP.  From a January 2016 Crux article:

Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin, for example, continued to prohibit women from being part of the ritual-until yesterday.

And while he said in a Thursday statement that he accepted the pope’s new rule “with loving obedience,” he pointed out that priests could stick to business as usual, or even drop the ritual altogether if they didn’t want to include women.

Priests in his diocese have the option “to include women in the washing of the feet … to follow the traditional practice of washing the feet of men, who in this dramatic ritual represent the Twelve Apostles [or] to omit the ritual of the washing of the feet altogether.”

Some priests seem to be gravitating toward door No. 3.

“Thankfully it is optional. So I will never perform the rite again,” the Rev. Bede Rowe, a priest based in the United Kingdom, wrote on his personal blog.

Another British priest, the Rev. Ray Blake, wrote on his blog that he stopped doing the ritual in 2013, when Pope Francis chose to include women and non-Christians in the ceremony. And he won’t start it up again.

“Here, since the ambiguity of the Pope’s first Holy Thursday and my own increasing inability to get up and down 12 times, it really does hurt, I chose not wash feet then and haven’t done since,” he wrote Friday.

Other conservatives worry that the changes could lead to women’s ordination. They point to the symbolism of the ritual, which many interpret as Jesus washing the feet of his 12 apostles.

Is this any different from the Pharisees condemning Jesus when the disciples did not ritually wash their hands before eating?  TMCTP sounds just like the Pharisees when they said, “"Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!".”  (Matthew 15:2).

Jesus responded to them by quoting Isaiah 29:13:

 ‘These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain;

their teachings are merely human rules.’ 

Other similar issues have also caused TMCTP to tear their clothes and throw ashes on their heads. 

They condemned the Holy Father because he said he would not judge someone who is gay but striving to live a holy life.  TMCTP also hated the fact that Pope Francis used the word "gay".  This is much like Jesus refusing to condemn the woman taken in the very act of adultery.  

Michael Matt of Remnant Newspaper condemned Pope Francis for greeting and hugging an old friend who is gay and in a same sex marriage.  That so reminds me of the Pharisees saying of Jesus when a prostitute anointed his feet, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” (Luke 7:39)

Of course, there are the more "serious" issues, such as giving communion to divorce and remarried Catholics.  TMCTP points this out as an absolute sign of just how heretical Pope Francis is.  

I have reviewed this many times in the past.  But what it comes down to is this: Pope Francis has made it very clear, without a doubt, that he respects and honors the Holy Sacrament of marriage.  

Howerver, the Holy Father recognizes that we live in a time when most people have no idea of the true meaning of marriage.  It has become more of a social event than anything else.  People are clueless of the great commitment required by marriage, and as a result, many marriages fail.

As Pope Francis has repeatedly said, the Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.”  This goes against the core beliefs of TMCTP.  The creed of TMCTP is that first you must be perfect and then God will forgive you.  TMCTP are so self righteous that they don't even realize how this turns the Gospel completely on its head.  

Pope Francis wants people to be treated as individuals, to be accompanied by the Church and discern and grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ.  Pope Francis is not saying all divorce and remarried persons can and should receive communion.    But Pope Francis realizes that we don't all have the same understanding and culpability of our own actions.  Each case must be examined on its own merits.  

However, TMCTP sees every situation in black and white, no gray areas.  All sinners are exactly the same - rotten to the core.  TMCTP does not believe in extenuating circumstances.  They don't accept that the pain and suffering of life has led some people down the wrong path, and they need help getting to where they should be.  

Pope Francis sees the pain and heartache of people, and he wants to do what he can to bring them back to a relationship with Jesus Christ, which is the only way in which they can truly heal.  But the TMCTP see only sinners who are worthy only of judgment.  TMCTP sees no room for mercy when it comes to sinners.  

Nowhere was this made plainer than in a very recent post by Father John Zuhlsdorf regarding the feast day of Pope St. John XXIII, which is also the anniversary of the opening of Vatican II, a day of infamy in the eyes of TMCTP.  Zuhlsdorf quoted part of St. John XXIII's opening remarks, including this:

[St. John XXIII] goes on to speak about how in dealing with errors in the past, the Church had often issued severe condemnations. Now, however, “the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity.”

Decide for yourselves how well that has worked.

There it is - condemnation of mercy.  This is a core belief of TMCTP.  And this is the real reason why they hate Pope Francis.

They hate Pope Francis because he dares to be merciful to sinners.

Think of the issue with the death penalty.  Pope Francis wants to give people every chance to repent and turn to God.  TMCTP wants to be able to kill them.   Pope Francis wants to reach out to gays and treat them with love and mercy.  TMCTP condemns the Holy Father saying he wants to normalize the gay lifestyle.

Mercy is the core issue with every example I have presented here.

Those More Catholic Than The Pope are truly the Pharisees of our time, putting their traditions above everything, seeing tradition as more important than people.

Their religion has very little to do with Jesus Christ.  And as a result, they hate the Vicar of Christ.

TMCTP would do well to remember James 2:13:  "Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment."