3 times Pope Francis ended up leaving reform-minded liberals in the lurch

The late Pope Francis, who passed away Monday morning, didn’t apologize for defending the long-held social positions of the Catholic Church during his 12-year reign as Supreme Pontiff.

Francis, while being known for his reforming practices during his reign, did not shy away from defending the non-negotiable positions of Catholic social teaching on issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and restrictions on women in the clergy. The Chair of Saint Peter sits vacant as of Monday, with elections for a new pope beginning no later than 20 days after Francis’ passing.

“With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend his soul to the infinite merciful love of the One and Triune God,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber, announced Monday morning.

Francis, during an interview with 60 Minutes in December 2024, reaffirmed the Church’s restriction on women becoming priests, simply replying “no” to CBS correspondent Norah O’Donnell’s question.

Francis expressly criminalized ordaining any women to the priesthood under canon law in 2021. Many liberals and liberalizing Catholics have pushed to have women in the priesthood.

He was also adamant to condemn abortion in the strongest terms, once comparing doctors who perform the procedure to “hitmen” during a visit to Belgium in September 2024.

“Doctors who do this are — allow me the word — hitmen. They are hitmen,” Francis said. “And on this, you cannot argue. You are killing a human life.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms the moral evil of every abortion under any circumstances, saying it is “gravely contrary to the moral law.”

Francis also stood by the church’s teaching on homosexuality and homosexual marriages, saying that there are “no circumstances” in which the church can approve of homosexual acts or marriages due to their sinful nature.

The Catechism explicitly forbids homosexual acts, calling them “intrinsically disordered,” while only defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

The pope allowed homosexual couples to be blessed on an individual level, but in no way condoning the union itself, he wrote in his pastoral letter Fiducia supplicans in December 2023.

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