Pope Francis and the politicization of the Catholic Church

By: José Antonio Friedl Zapata - 17/03/2023

Guest columnist.
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While a large part of the leadership of the Latin American Catholic Church and its parishioners close ranks to fight for their church, the victim of atrocious abuses for defending basic human rights and democracy, Pope Bergoglio is silent again. An attitude to which we are already accustomed. With this he becomes an accomplice of the horrendous Latin American dictators and of those leaders who are one step away from being them. Today we are witnessing his cowardly attitude towards his church in Nicaragua, persecuted by the evil Ortega-Murillo couple, but also towards the situation in Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Mexico and his native country of Argentina. In this case, his hypocrisy is such that he dared a few days ago to criticize the harsh economic situation, moral and political that Argentina is going through, forgetting that he has been and is one of the most responsible for this chaos for having unrestrictedly supported the Kirchner mafia that has destroyed the beautiful country. Let's not forget his repeated phrase of support for the criminal Cristina Kirchner "Take care of Cristina, take care of Cristina." He has also boasted of his good relationship with the Cuban satraps Raúl and Fidel Castro, expressing that Cuba is an important symbol for our continent. How can a supreme pontiff be proud of having an impious, impudent relationship with a criminal dictatorship, which has plunged his people into misery without respecting the minimum human rights for more than 63 years! Is Francisco a cynic or an ignoramus or both? He today he has turned his back on his church in Nicaragua, tolerating that the brave Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who refused to be exiled to the US, is sentenced for his attitude to 26 years in prison in a dungeon of the regime. But the Latin American Church is telling him clearly: Enough, Francisco, with so much hypocrisy. The brave priest of the Island of Cuba, Father José Conrado Rodríguez, clearly commented on his disappointment when he stated in public: "We Cubans feel ashamed of others for you."

But the strong criticism of his ideologized and faithless actions, which during his papacy have transformed today's Catholic Church into a kind of far-left political NGO, do not come only from our continent. He is receiving the strongest stones from his own Roman environment, both within the Vatican, from high conservative prelates, as well as from renowned Vatican supporters and important European journalists. Criticism has had in recent weeks an already more than worrying degree for the permanence of this Bergoglio papacy. It is about the appearance of two key books that denounce the malice, rancor and hidden revenge of this Pope, who was born, as is vox populi in Argentina, to be a left-wing politician, but never to be a pontiff.

These two books have shaken the very foundations of the Vatican today. We are referring to the publication of the personal secretary and confidant of Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, entitled "Nient´ altro che la Verita" (Nothing but the Truth) that saw the light almost immediately after the death of the emeritus pope, and the posthumous book of memories of Benedict himself "Quasi un Testamento Spirituale", published just one day after his death as the Pope Emeritus himself had foreseen. In this book, Benedict XVI reveals the real reasons for his resignation, the hatred that surrounded him, and the intrigues and arrangements against him by a powerful Vatican circle that spread throughout his native Germany, Europe, and the United States. and his physical weakness to be able to face them. Benedict was fundamentally a man of faith, a theologian and not a left-wing politician like Pope Francis is. Pope Benedict narrates in his memoirs, with great bitterness and sadness, his disagreements and confrontations with the current Pope and the turn his Church has taken after his retirement, affirming his fundamentally conservative, anti-globalist, anti-Lgbt, anti-new philosophy. woke culture, decidedly against cultural Marxism and evidently anti-abortion. With this philosophy, he earned from the beginning of his papacy a frontal fight with the Obama government and his entourage and his followers. It is noteworthy that he explicitly expressed his wish in writing that he did not want US President Joe Biden to be present at his religious obsequies, a fact that was confirmed by the White House press secretary herself, Jean Pierre, and that it was interpreted as a slap in the face for the progressive politics of both Obama and Biden. In the Vatican the vengeful Bergoglio reduced the funeral ceremonies in honor of Benedict to a minimum, which was widely criticized in Catholic circles throughout the world.

The second and devastating publication against the papacy of Francis that we want to mention is by the personal secretary of Benedict XVI and confidant throughout his papacy, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein. The book entitled “Nient altro che la verita”, Nothing but the truth, was published almost immediately after the death of the Pope Emeritus and produced a perfect storm inside and outside the Vatican due to the revelations of the bloody internal struggles, of the confrontations that took place and the real reasons that led to Ratzinger's early resignation. Gaenswein, in the same line expressed by important Vatican supporters, narrates the great disappointment and sadness that the measures that Bergoglio took to change his church's roots caused the late Pope.

Bergoglio's revenge extended beyond the expulsion of Gaenswein, but continued with the persecution of prominent theologians who shared the ideas of the late Pope. Let us take just as an example the persecution suffered by the distinguished German Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, a theologian and philosopher, very close to Benedict, who recently stated that Francis is surrounded by a magic circle without theological preparation, also speaking of the anthropological nihilism that it is threatening and poisoning the Catholic Church in these critical moments of a modernity without God. As expected, by direct orders from Bergoglio, the Cardinal has been removed from his important position as Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a function he held for years. Mueller says that Bergoglio dispensed with him through a simple note that said: "You have finished your term, thanks for your work." Unlike his friend, the late Pope Benedict, Mueller doesn't mince words about Francis leading the church astray. "At this moment I see the church on the edge of a precipice." Bergoglio could not completely expel him from the Vatican because Benedict in life had given Mueller a room of his that he owned within the Holy See. Bergoglio's vengeful attitude extends to many other opponents, who one by one forces them to retire early to replace them with others of his ideology, thus preparing a successor to his measure before an eventual upcoming Synod, given the precarious physical health of he. Unlike his friend, the late Pope Benedict, Mueller doesn't mince words that Francis is leading the church astray. "At this moment I see the church on the edge of a precipice." Bergoglio could not completely expel him from the Vatican because Benedict in life had given Mueller a room of his that he owned within the Holy See. Bergoglio's vengeful attitude extends to many other opponents, who one by one forces them to retire early to replace them with others of his ideology, thus preparing a successor to his measure before an eventual upcoming Synod, given his precarious physical health. Unlike his friend, the late Pope Benedict, Mueller doesn't mince words that Francis is leading the church astray. "At this moment I see the church on the edge of a precipice." Bergoglio could not completely expel him from the Vatican because Benedict in life had given Mueller a room of his that he owned within the Holy See. Bergoglio's vengeful attitude extends to many other opponents, who one by one forces them to retire early to replace them with others of his ideology, thus preparing a successor to his measure before an eventual upcoming Synod, given his precarious physical health. "At this moment I see the church on the edge of a precipice." Bergoglio could not completely expel him from the Vatican because Benedict in life had given Mueller a room of his that he owned within the Holy See. Bergoglio's vengeful attitude extends to many other opponents, who one by one forces them to retire early to replace them with others of his ideology, thus preparing a successor to his measure before an eventual upcoming Synod, given his precarious physical health. "At this moment I see the church on the edge of a precipice." Bergoglio could not throw him out of the Vatican completely because Benedict in life had given Mueller a room of his that he owned within the Holy See. Bergoglio's vindictive attitude extends to many other opponents, who one by one forces them to retire early to replace them with others of his ideology, thus preparing a successor to his measure before an eventual upcoming Synod, given his precarious physical health.

And what can the Latin American Christian and Catholic population expect from this Vatican led by Pope Francis? Very little in terms of their fight for a better future in a democratic framework, even more so now that it is clouded by a red wave of left-wing governments. Pope Francis, friend of Latin American dictators, very close to the disastrous Theology of Liberation that we thought was overcome. But more and more Latin American churches are looking for a different direction from the one proposed by the Vatican accompanied by their parishioners who want to get out of the poverty proposed by the Pope and because of his contempt for the middle class and meritocracy, which seems to be a sin for Bergoglio. The Latin American Catholic Church is today, perhaps, still the last independent institution that the majority of the population of our continent has. Also because God has not died and Jesus Christ is not fake news.

Jose Antonio Friedl Zapata

Political Scientist-Latin Americanist-Independent Journalist

Author of several books with Latin American themes

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».