From an anarchist perspective, Pope Francis was certainly not the worst of the men who have sat their elderly backsides on Papal thrones in living memory.

~ James Barrett ~

Both John Paul and the execrable red-shoes Ratzinger were aggressive social conservatives and controlling personalities who used their power in the most unpleasant of ways, enabling the worst elements of Catholic communities to indulge themselves.

Francis, by contrast, was a soft leftie and a sympathetic figure towards liberationist movements particularly in Latin America, once memorably declaring he saw little difference between the aims of communism and Catholicism. A bit silly perhaps, and he spent his later years carefully refuting any insinuation that he might be a Marxist, but a good example of where his general principles lay and often, where he took action.

His position at the top of a fundamentally reactionary structure negotiating the halls of power across several continents was, however, an obvious straightjacket and in many ways, a perfect example of the anarchist critique writ in practice.

Whatever his personal views might have been, he was subject to pressures that frequently led to regressive statements, struggling to get anywhere advancing the position of women and especially LGBT+ people beyond a vague line of “it’s a sin but don’t judge” (his vocal position on trans people being a low), and having his focus on the poor and downtrodden largely ignored by the wealthy and powerful.

Where his predecessors were able, in their alignment, to largely let loose the dogs of what we know today as culture wars, he was reduced to an often symbolic role, a kindly figure in a golden cage.

Francis was, as far as can be told, a decent and well intentioned man within the limitations of his beliefs and position. And he was an example of how the hierarchies of power are not designed to set us free.

~ Victoria Alcock  ~

We might say that Pope Francis was a more liberal Pope than his predecessors, where for example he backed the decriminalisation of homosexuality, saying that “Persons with homosexual tendencies are children of God” [1], or where he argued the exploitation of people and the earth “for the sake of making money” forced people to have to migrate as a result of war and hunger [2].

In terms of actually enacting change, however, the Pope was good at talking the talk, less so walking the walk. We see this with issues such as the historic claims of paedophilia and rape within the Catholic church. Child sexual abuse has been happening since the origin of the Roman Catholic Church as an institution in the 1st century [3]. When it comes to Pope Francis’ response to cases within the church, he was seen to only really denounce abuses publicly when scrutinised about what the Vatican had been doing to deal with it more recently. In 2014 Francis established a panel of international experts to “recommend how to protect minors”, but the panel members had so many problems dealing with the Vatican’s evasiveness, lack of transparency and cooperation that by 2023 most had resigned [4]. He also only denounced the abuses of a Chilean bishop in 2018 after heavy pressure, initially defending the bishop “demanding the accusers show proof of his guilt” [5], and later that he had made “serious mistakes in the assessment and perception of the situation” [6].

Despite all this, it must be said that he has done more than any Pope before him to deal with the issue of sexual abuse within the church, holding a four day Protection of Minors in the Church summit in 2019. He also made a “never again” pledge after an earlier scandal amongst a variety of parishes in Australia in 2012 [7].

The problem, as a variety of sources have described it, is the fact that the Catholic Church is a global institution, and the official stances on issues that the Vatican tries to put into effect through policy are hard to control given the priorities and actions of all the different Catholic governing bodies across the globe.

Though Francis may have had the best intentions among his peers, he still failed to recognise the fact this is a systemic issue within the church, saying in the 2019 summit “The consecrated person, chosen by God to guide souls to salvation, lets himself be subjugated by his own human frailty, or by his own illness, thus becoming a tool of Satan. In the abuses, we see the hand of evil that does not spare even the innocence of children” [8]. He used the issue to reaffirm one of the fundamental beliefs at the heart of the Catholic faith, that good must triumph over evil, and that as Catholics we must remember to follow God, and not fall victim to the tricks of Satan and sinful human desires. But then, I suppose, what is the point of the job of the Pope if not to encourage people to believe in God as the head of the Catholic Church?

He did the most that any Pope has done in the 20th and 21st century to tackle the church’s history of sexual abuse, but much, much more has to be done. He had the opportunity to do more, but at times failed to commit to radical action, protecting his clergy first. After so many years of abuse, the Pope shouldn’t have questioned the validity of the claims of victims. Pope Francis set the ball rolling with regard to more liberal reforms within the church. Whoever the next Pope is, if they want to continue in Pope Francis’ legacy, will have their work cut out for them because, (pardon the pun) the bar is in Hell.

[1] Pope Francis says laws criminalising LGBT people are a ‘sin’ and an injustice
[2] XXXI World Youth Day Address
[3] The Roman Catholic Church: A Centuries Old History of Awareness of Clerical Child Sexual Abuse (from the First to the 19th Century)
[4] [5] Clerical sex abuse: Pope Francis’s thorniest challenge
[6] Pope Francis’ Letter to the Bishops of Chile, Following Archbishop Scicluna’s Report
[7] How will Pope Francis deal with abuse in the Catholic Church?
[8] Pope Francis compares child sex abuse to human sacrifice