Pope Francis at 10 years: A reformer’s learning curve, plans

NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — So much for a short pontificate.

Pope Francis celebrates the 10th anniversary of his election Monday, far outpacing the “two or three” years he once envisioned for his papacy and showing no signs of slowing down.

On the contrary, with an agenda full of problems and plans, and no longer encumbered by the shadow of Pope Benedict XVI, the 86-year-old Argentine Jesuit backed off from talking about retiring and recently described the papacy as a job for life.

History’s first Latin American pope already made his mark and could have even more impact in the years to come.

<p>Pope Francis holds the pastoral staff Jan. 6, 2014, as he leaves after celebrating a Mass to mark Epiphany in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.</p>

Andrew Medichini, Associated Press

Pope Francis holds the pastoral staff Jan. 6, 2014, as he leaves after celebrating a Mass to mark Epiphany in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.

Sex absuse

Francis initially downplayed the problem of clergy sex abuse but had a wake-up call five years into his pontificate after a visit to Chile.

During the trip, he discovered a serious disconnect between what Chilean bishops told him about a notorious case and the reality: Hundreds or thousands of Chilean faithful had been raped and molested by Catholic priests over decades.

“That was my conversion,” he told the AP. “That’s when the bomb went off, when I saw the corruption of many bishops in this.”

Francis passed a series of measures since then aimed at holding the church hierarchy accountable, but results have been mixed. Benedict removed some 800 priests, but Francis seems far less eager to defrock abusers.

The next frontier in the crisis already reared its head: the sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse of adults by clergy. Francis is aware of the problem — a new case concerns one of his fellow Jesuits — but there seems to be no will to take firm action.

<p>Pope Francis walks in a procession Oct. 7, 2019, on the occasion of the Amazon synod, at the Vatican.</p>

Andrew Medichini, Associated Press

Pope Francis walks in a procession Oct. 7, 2019, on the occasion of the Amazon synod, at the Vatican.

Significance of synods

“Synodality,” a term that has little meaning outside Catholic circles, could go down as one of Francis’ most important church contributions.

A synod is a gathering of bishops, and Francis’ philosophy that bishops must listen to one another and the laity has come to define his vision for the Catholic Church: He wants it to be a place where the faithful are welcomed, accompanied and heard.

The synods held during his first 10 years produced some of the most significant — and controversial — moments of his papacy.

After listening to the plight of divorced Catholics during a 2014-15 synod, for instance, Francis opened the door to letting divorced and civilly remarried couples receive Communion. Calls to allow married priests marked his 2019 synod on the Amazon, although Francis ultimately rejected the idea.

His October synod involved an unprecedented canvassing of the Catholic faithful about their hopes for the church and problems they have encountered, eliciting demands from women for greater leadership roles, including ordination.

<p>Pope Francis, right, hugs Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Sept. 28, 2014, prior to the start of a meeting with elderly faithful in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.</p>

Gregorio Borgia, Associated Press

Pope Francis, right, hugs Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Sept. 28, 2014, prior to the start of a meeting with elderly faithful in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.

Latin Mass

Catholic traditionalists were wary when Francis emerged as pope for the first time on the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica without the red cape that his predecessors had worn for formal events. Yet they never expected him to reverse one of Benedict’s signature decisions by reimposing restrictions on the old Latin Mass, including where and who can celebrate it.

Francis justified his move by saying Benedict’s decision to liberalize the celebration of the old Mass became a source of division in parishes. But traditionalists took the renewed restrictions as an attack on orthodoxy, one they saw as contradicting Francis’ “all are welcome” mantra.

“Instead of integrating them into parish life, the restriction on the use of parish churches will marginalize and push to the peripheries faithful Catholics who wish only to worship,” lamented Joseph Shaw of the Latin Mass Society’s U.K. branch.

While the short-term prospects for Francis relenting are not great, traditionalists know that another pope might come along who is more friendly to the old rite.

<p>Pope Francis salutes a group of nuns Nov. 24, 2021, at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall the Vatican.</p>

Andrew Medichini, Associated Press

Pope Francis salutes a group of nuns Nov. 24, 2021, at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall the Vatican.

Role of women

Francis’ quips about the “female genius” have long made women cringe. Women theologians are the “strawberries on the cake,” he once said. Nuns shouldn’t be “old maids,” he said. Europe shouldn’t be a barren, infertile “grandmother,” he told European Union lawmakers — a remark that got him an angry phone call from then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

But, it’s also true that Francis has done more to promote women in the church than any pope before him, including naming several women to high-profile positions in the Vatican.

Still, only one in four Holy See employees is female, no woman heads a department and women remain forbidden from the priesthood.

But the trend is there and “there is no possibility of going back,” said María Lía Zervino, one of the first three women named to the Vatican office that helps the pope select bishops around the world.

<p>A rainbow shines Jan. 31, 2021, over St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.</p>

Alessandra Tarantino, Associated Press

A rainbow shines Jan. 31, 2021, over St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.

LGBTQ faithful

Francis’ insistence that long-marginalized LGBTQ Catholics can find a welcome home in the church can be summed up by two pronouncements that book-ended his papacy to date: “Who am I to judge?” and “Being homosexual is not a crime.”

Francis made outreach to LGBTQ people a hallmark of his papacy more than any pope before him.

He ministers to members of a transgender community in Rome. He has counseled gay couples seeking to raise their children Catholic. During a 2015 visit to the U.S., he publicized a private meeting with a gay former student and the man’s partner to counter the conservative narrative that he received an anti-same-sex marriage activist.

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