The Holy Father’s eleventh anniversary (March 19) fell at a difficult moment, with a global controversy over his Ukrainian “white flag” remarks, in which he said that Ukraine should negotiate an end to the war with Russia. It is regrettably fitting, as the eleventh year of the pontificate has been a bumpy one for Pope Francis. A year ago it was expected, after the deaths of Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal George Pell, that the road would be more open for Pope Francis to follow his program. It didn’t go quite that smoothly.

Even amongst the most fervent supporters of Pope Francis, there is disquiet. Mike Lewis of Where Peter Is wrote in December that “it is time to begin again . . . because many Catholics simply don’t get Pope Francis.” Massimo Faggioli at Commonweal lamented that “there seems to be no prelate at the Vatican who can speak to the Germans on the same theological level that Cardinal Ratzinger or Cardinal Mueller did” and wondered if “a Vatican with a Latin American leadership can mediate the differences between Germany and Africa.” Michael Sean Winters of the National Catholic Reporter confessed that “our wonderful pope is horribly wrong about Ukraine.” ….