What I’ve learned from the Francis Pontificate

After all we've been through, it would be a shame to ignore what we've learned.

Note: This article was rejected by two different Catholic outlets. Make of that, what you will. Originally posted at The Ruth Institute, July 8, 2025.

The pontificate of Pope Francis was trying for many faithful Catholics. Now that Leo XIV has been pope for a while, we can reflect on the lessons we might draw from the 12 years under Pope Francis. I believe I have learned a few things that I recommend to you for your consideration.

First, I learned that the Lord is still protecting His Church. Pope Francis was not a systematic or deep thinker. Even his admirers would admit that he was not a philosopher of the status of John Paul or a theologian of the stature of Benedict.

Francis’ statements, particularly about sexual morality, often caused confusion. I personally found this frustrating, because I am confident that the ancient teachings of the Church in these areas are good, true, and humane. The Church’s sexual teachings will bless anyone who embraces them. Francis’ lack of clarity surely led many people astray.

The confusion Pope Francis caused led some otherwise faithful people to wonder: perhaps Francis isn’t the pope after all. We all remember the chaos.

Even worse, the confusion created fear that perhaps the Lord’s promise to Peter was not as solid as we thought. Isn’t the Pope infallible regarding faith and morals? How could a divorced and civilly remarried person all of a sudden receive communion? For some otherwise faithful people, these situations led to the thought that perhaps Francis wasn’t the pope after all. I think we all remember the confusion and chaos.

But here’s the thing: Francis did NOT change the teaching, neither on divorce, nor on homosexuality. He did change people’s perception of acceptable “pastoral practice.” In my opinion, some of his personnel appointments were dreadful. He protected some people who shouldn’t have been protected. All this harmed the Church’s counter-cultural witness to the beauty of God’s plan for human sexuality. But none of this is the equivalent of making an ex-cathedra statement that what was once mortally sinful is now permissible.

We might suppose, based on his actions and statements, that he wanted to change the teaching. He walked dreadfully close to the line. But he didn’t actually cross it.

I conclude that the Holy Spirit protected the Church from a pope changing the Church’s ancient teaching.

Now, we might complain: “Gee whiz, Lord, that was a close call. That’s a pretty lame way of keeping Your promise.”

Maybe so. But honestly, haven’t we been pretty lame in our obedience to the Lord’s clear teachings? Haven’t large swaths of Catholic theology and praxis since Vatican II been a long exercise in doing the minimum necessary to get by? If we, the Catholics of America had embraced Humanae Vitae, instead of arm-wrestling with the papacy, wouldn’t the world be a better place today? Think about a world with no “Nancy Pelosi Catholics,” a world in which a person with Biden’s record couldn’t have gotten away with calling himself “Catholic.”

We dodged the worst bullet: the pope did not officially teach error. The Holy Spirit actually did protect us, better than we deserved, if we’re honest.

This brings me to the second lesson I think I’ve learned from the Francis pontificate. No more Catholic triumphalism. Let me explain.

I reverted to the Faith during the papacy of Pope St. John Paul II, at a time when being a Catholic was kind of cool. The pope brought down the Berlin Wall. He deeply understood and fearlessly taught that the Sexual Revolution (which I was then trying to recover from) was a human disaster. Pope Benedict was a world-class theologian, a deep thinker who was crystal clear. The Catechism they produced was a gift to the Church and to the world.

Our Protestant brothers and sisters looked to us for moral leadership on the life and marriage issues. I have to admit I enjoyed that. I often felt as if we Catholics were the intellectual vanguard of the Rebels with a Cause against the dominant Sexual Revolution.

By contrast, Pope Francis was frankly often an embarrassment. His confusing and contradictory statements made defending the Church’s teachings a lot harder, inside and outside the Catholic Church. My Missouri Synod Lutheran friends teased me, “We told you that pope thing wasn’t going to work.”

I finally realized that my embarrassment is completely irrelevant. So, what if I’m embarrassed? My feelings are beside the point.

Don’t get me wrong: I enjoy Catholic triumphalism as much as the next person. But the Francis pontificate taught me that it isn’t my triumph. This is Jesus’s Church. The triumph is His, not mine.

After the Fiducia Supplicans fiasco, my friends at the Evangelical Christian Post asked me in good faith, “What in the world is going on?” I was honored to be asked. Having to explain this to a bunch of skeptical Evangelicals helped me to crystalize the heart of the matter. I told them plainly. Pope Francis has not changed the teaching on Catholic sexual morality. He does not have the authority to change it.

God entrusted the Magisterium to the protection of the Catholic Church, as a gift to the whole world. No one has the authority to change it, not even the pope. The Magisterium is no one’s private property. It is a public good, available to anyone who inquires in good faith. When in doubt, the Catechism is our guide. Every baptized Catholic has a responsibility to preserve and promote it.

Francis: you had one job…

In fact, we could say this is the ultimate measure of the Francis pontificate. He had, as they say, one job: hand on the Deposit of Faith in as good a condition as he found it. I don’t think we can deny that he badly failed in some aspects of this responsibility. I wholeheartedly agree with Bishop Athanasius Schneider, who has said that a future pope will have to clarify some of these points.

In the meantime, however, I am keeping in mind what I think I’ve learned from the Pope Francis papacy. Rely on the Catechism and the Tradition, not any particular individual, not even the pope. Any triumph of the Church is the Lord’s, not ours. And, in spite of all our sins, God is still keeping His promise to protect His Church from error.