James J. BACIK, Pope Francis and His Critics: Historical and Theological Perspectives. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2020. pp. 136. 14.95pb. ISBN: 9780909154531. Reviewed by Walter N. SISTO, D’Youville College, Buffalo, NY 14201.
Rev. James Bacik’s text provides a wonderful overview of the papacy of Pope Francis from his election in 2013 until early 2019 that outlines the major controversies and successes of Pope Francis’ papacy, as well as astutely captures the “pastoral genius” and “gospel-based morality” of the Holy Father. The book is an even-handed appraisal of Pope Francis’s writings, interviews, and actions on a variety of themes including gender issues, economic issues, liturgical issues, divorce and remarriage, and clergy sex-abuse.
B quickly acquaints his readers with the “pastoral genius” and “gospel-based morality” of the Holy Father that has continued making strides towards establishing a “World Church” that stresses the importance of synodality and the local church. (18) B’s aptitude for synthesizing multiple viewpoints and presenting the key themes and quotations concisely is impressive. Each chapter introduces the theme, provides relevant background and the teaching of the Pope, and then a selected response from the critics as well as defenders of Pope Francis. There are few occasions in this text where his detractors and defenders agree with exception to the Pope’s mishandling of the sex-abuse crisis. (15)
On the topic of clergy sex-abuse, B’s provides an insightful chapter, “Chapter Six: Clergy Sex-Abuse Issues.” It is the longest and, in my opinion, the best chapter in the book. B’s ability to synthesize multiple statements and events in a logical and comprehensible format is commendable especially with consideration of the multitude of allegations of a cover-up and frankly the confusing nature of the Catholic Church’s response to the crisis. B begins with an introduction to clerical sex-abuse in the Church that follows Thomas Doyle’s overview of the history of clerical sex-abuse and the Churches response from 306 CE until the 2002 Dallas Charter implemented by the United States Catholic Bishops. He makes an interesting point that in 1952, Father Gerald Fitzgerald warned US bishops and later Pope Paul VI that priests who are accused of sex-abuse should be laicized. Unfortunately, his warning fell on deaf ears.
The Dallas Charter’s implementation of a zero-tolerance policy for sex-abusing priests and precipitous decline in allegations of sex-abuse since 2002 are all signs of hope. However, the charter did not hold bishops that protect sex-abusing priests accountable. (92) This failure of oversight and accountability contributed to the current crisis in the US.
B moves then to the papacies of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI of which B is overly critical. However, B is correct that both Popes failed to adequately address the crisis. A case in point was Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger's support of the infamous Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder, and director of the Legionaries of Christ after Marcial was accused by nine men of abusing them as children. (96) This history contextualizes Pope Francis’s papacy.
Pope Francis inherited a bad situation and unfortunately continued lackluster policies. He has not effectively addressed clergy sex-abuse and the cover-ups. For example, in 2018, Pope Francis installed and defended Bishop Barros of the diocese of Osorno, who was accused of witnessing and being complicit in the sex-abuse of Juan Carlos Cruz by Father Karadina. However, after pressure from the Chilean Catholics, the Pope not only privately apologized to Juan Carlos Cruz but initiated an internal investigation that resulted in the firing of Baros and resignation of Chilean bishops.
B reveals there is a silver lining in this situation. Pope Francis’s change in position, public apology to the Chilean people, private meeting with Jan Carlos Cruz, and repudiation of Bishop Barros illustrated his pastoral genius. Pope Francis is a pastor that offers genuine hope for survivors of clergy sex-abuse: “[s]uvivors of clergy sex abuse around the world have new hope that their cries for help will be heard.” (106)
However, summarizing the research of Keenan, B argues that effective solutions to clergy sex-abuse will not occur until institutional reform is accomplished. Beyond holding bishops accountable for protecting sex-abusing clergy, B argues that seminary formation must be reformed producing mature males that have healthy attitudes towards sexuality, more realistic attitudes towards adult friendships, and celibacy. (94)
This chapter also provides a wonderful overview and analysis of complicated topics such as the infamous 2016 Vigano letter that accused Pope Francis of covering-up Cardinal McCarrick’s sex abuse, and Pope Francis’s refusal to respond to Vigano’s accusation. B outlines both those who supported Vigano as well as the defenders of Francis. This back and forth provides a fairly balanced overview that invites readers to engage the topic at more length. Nevertheless, this approach is problematic. Using categories such as “conservative” and “liberal” suggests that the Church is divided between conservatives and liberals. B’s research suggests that this “divide” is amongst the elites and not representative of most Catholics; he cites statistics that in the US, most Catholics are in favor of controversial and “liberal” proposals such as communion for divorced and remarried Catholics. (83) Some qualifications here would be helpful here in future editions.
Given the brevity of the book and its overview nature, this is a minor issue. I highly recommend this text. It is a readable, concise, and informative book that would be well-suited to a study of the papacy of Pope Francis or the Catholic Church today in a parish setting or introductory course on Catholicism. B is a skilled writer and researcher that provides not only a solid overview of major controversies and successes of Pope Francis’ papacy over the past 5 years, but he astutely captures the “pastoral genius” and “gospel-based morality” of the Holy Father. This approach I think is key to correctly interpret Pope Francis’s papacy. His pastoral approach does not change Church teaching but rather deemphasizes clear-cut theological answers in favor of the merciful and pastoral approach to the People of God. It is left to the reader to decide whether Pope Francis’ approach is justified.