What reforms within the Catholic Church are critics of Pope Francis opposed to?

Pope Francis’ confrontation with conservative sectors of the Catholic Church that oppose progressive aspects of his agenda has become public in recent weeks.

At the center of the debate are issues such as abortion, the LGTBI+ community or the priesthood of women.

Francis decided in recent days to dismiss US Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, for administrative mismanagement.

But it is widely known that Strickland, an open follower of former President Donald Trump, is seen as one of Francis’ key critical voices.

In addition, the Pope made another decision regarding a critic of his management: expelled from his residence in the Vatican to the American Cardinal Raymond Burke, who was also a fierce opponent of the management of the Argentine Pope.

Burke, who has gone so far as to say that “there is a feeling that the church is rudderless,” is retired and lives in Rome in a home suitable for retired cardinals and bishops.

“Francis is now 87 years old, has some health problems and is likely interested in safeguarding his legacy against the machinations of those who seek to undermine his reforms and his vision for the global Roman Catholic Church,” journalist Harriet Sherwood said in the British newspaper De Bewachter.

But what are the issues on which Strickland and Burke have placed their main attacks?

1. Gay marriage

Perhaps the issue that has caused the most stir in recent months is Pope Francis’ suggestion to bless same-sex couples.

“A blessing is people’s quest to be in the presence of God, but it should never be confused with the sacrament of marriage,” Francis said in a letter published last October.

Same-sex marriage is still considered a sin within Church doctrine, and Strickland and Burke have emphatically rejected any openness to what they call the “homosexual agenda.”

“The actions must be judged and in this case they are sinful and unnatural. It is impossible to find positive elements in a bad actBurke said in an interview with the Vida Nueva portal.

He also recently sent a “dubia” (an official document that priests can present to ask about decisions about the Church’s teaching) to Pope Francis, questioning the ideas of opening up to same-sex couples.

Strickland has also focused on criticizing the church’s positions on this issue.

The bishop noted in a letter published last August: “The truth is based on the divine Word of God, revealed in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and guarded by the Magisterium of the Church. Therefore, any attempt to allow the blessing of same-sex unions would be an attack on the Holy Faith.”

That the American theologian and canon lawyer Dawn Goldstein would make such an accusation “it is actually a schism regarding the Pope“, he told BBC Mundo.

In addition, the now former bishop of the American diocese of Tyler also criticized the openness of the church towards trans women.

“The transgender movement is another face of the LGBTQ agenda and is also at odds with the Catholic understanding of humanity. “This movement seeks to fundamentally change the way our world views the biological and God-given identity of every human being,” he noted.

2. Divorces and abortion

Another issue that has caused a lot of friction is Francis’ openness to divorced and remarried people so that they can receive the sacraments.

According to the Catholic Church, someone who divorces and remarries civilly cannot receive the sacraments because the marriage is believed to be indissoluble (unless the Church itself annuls it) and he or she would be living in sin with their new partner.

Francis has given indications that he wants to open the doors of the Catholic Church to divorced people, but Burke has refused to consider a change.

“Marriage is inextricably linked. “If I marry someone, I can’t live with someone else.”Burke said.

And he added: ‘The pillar of the Church is marriage. If we do not properly teach and live that truth, we are lost. ‘We are no longer the Church’

On abortion, one of the most controversial issues within the Church, Burke has also taken a radical position.

Burke said Catholic politicians who support the legalization of abortion, such as John Kerry or US President Joe Biden, who professes to be Catholic, should not receive the Eucharist.

Francis has not been equivocal on the issue of abortion (“It’s murder,” he has said in several interviews), but he has taken positions such as allowing all priests to “sacramental absolution” to this sin.

Until a few years ago, this faculty was reserved only for special priests, because abortion is considered a serious sin that causes excommunication.

A change could facilitate the return of believers who left because of this position.

3. Women priests

In several statements, Pope Francis has stressed the importance of opening the church hierarchy to women.

While there is a movement even promoting their ordination to the priesthood, the idea that has had the most traction so far is the ordination of women deacons to administer the Eucharist and perform other sacramental duties.

Deacons in the Catholic Church constitute the first degree of priestly ordination, followed by the presbyterate (priest) and the episcopate (bishop).

“There is an urgent need to ensure greater participation of women in governmental positions in the Church,” Francis said at the end of the last Synod of Bishops.

And he called for an investigation so that women could be ordained as deacons.

Following this announcement, Strickland launched another attack on the possibility of ordaining women.

“Sacred Tradition and the Church’s Ordinary Magisterium have confirmed over the centuries that the Church has no authority to ordain women as priests,” the bishop wrote in a pastoral letter published last September.

“This cannot be changed because Christ established a male priesthood to represent himself as husband and the Church as his wife,” he claimed.