Abp. Charles J. Chaput: The Church After Francis
Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations: I Have Seen the Lord!
April 22, 2025
(Repost) The Coming Trumpian Pope, by Austin Ruse
April 23, 2025
Abp. Charles J. Chaput, Francis. Source: Complicit Clergy
By Abp. Charles J. Chaput, First Things, April 21, 2025
I have personal memories of Pope Francis that I greatly value: a friendly and generous working relationship at the 1997 Synod on America when we were both newly appointed archbishops; his personal welcome and warmth at Rome’s 2014 Humanum conference; and the extraordinary success of his 2015 visit to Philadelphia for the Eighth World Meeting of Families. He devoted himself to serving the Church and her people in ways that he felt the times demanded. As a brother in the faith, and a successor of Peter, he deserves our ongoing prayers for his eternal life in the presence of the God he loved.
Having said that, an interregnum between papacies is a time for candor. The lack of it, given today’s challenges, is too expensive. In many ways, whatever its strengths, the Francis pontificate was inadequate to the real issues facing the Church. He had no direct involvement in the Second Vatican Council and seemed to resent the legacy of his immediate predecessors who did; men who worked and suffered to incarnate the council’s teachings faithfully into Catholic life. …
