Schism Archives

On American critics, Pope says he doesn’t want a schism but he’s not afraid of it

Pope in Madagascar
Sep 10, 2019

“There always is the schismatic option in the Church,” Francis said. “It’s a choice that the Lord leaves to human freedom. I am not afraid of schism … I pray for them not to happen, as the spiritual health of many people is at stake.”

Archbishop: ‘Catholic’ groups on ‘pro-choice’ ad not affiliated with church

Catholic News Service, Church in the US
Jan 25, 2019

In response to a paid advertisement from self-identified “pro-choice” Catholic organizations that was published in the Albuquerque Journal, Santa Fe Archbishop John C. Wester said the signatories on the ad “are not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church in New Mexico.”

Douthat and Ivereigh showed us how to disagree without being disagreeable

News Analysis
Jan 28, 2018

Ross Douthat and Austen Ivereigh took part in a remarkable event Wednesday night hosted by the University of Dallas, and it was a great lesson in how disagreement doesn’t have to mean division.

Pope, Bolivian bishops discuss rise of ‘parallel’ churches

Catholic News Service, Global Church, Vatican
Sep 19, 2017

Bolivian bishops in Rome for their ad limina visit spoke to Pope Francis about the rise of problematic groups in the country, also known as “parallel churches,” that are made of priests who have been suspended from their ministry and “seminarians who have claimed autonomy and distance from the church.”

Francis says the people have spoken: ‘Two popes are just fine’

Analysis, Vatican
Aug 27, 2016

Sometimes leaders learn more from crowds than from polls about how passionately people are feeling something, and in his preface to a new biography of Benedict XVI, Francis suggests crowds have taught him that ordinary Catholics are just fine with the two-pope arrangement.

Cardinal Burke insists he’s not an ‘enemy’ of Pope Francis

Church in the US, Interviews
Aug 22, 2016

American Cardinal Raymond Burke, often styled as a conservative opponent of Pope Francis, says that he told the pontiff ‘The only way I can serve you is by speaking the truth in the best and clearest way possible,’ to which Francis replied, ‘That’s what I want.’