Pope Struggles to Contain Conservative-Liberal Tensions in Catholic Church

 

Pope Struggles to Contain Conservative-Liberal Tensions in Catholic Church

https://www.wsj.com/articles/pope-struggles-to-contain-conservative-liberal-tensions-in-catholic-church-11616245220?mod=searchresults_pos1&page=1

VATICAN CITY (VATICAN CITY)
Wall Street Journal [New York NY]

March 20, 2021

By Francis X. Rocca and Ian Lovett

Pope Francis is struggling to manage powerful bishops in the U.S. and Germany, two groups at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, as he tries to advance his progressive agenda without jeopardizing the unity of the Catholic Church.

The election of President Biden, a progressive Catholic whom some U.S. bishops want to censure for his support of abortion rights, has exacerbated longstanding tensions between the pope and the largely conservative American episcopate. U.S. church leaders have resisted promoting the pope’s priorities of social and economic justice and care for the environment over opposition to abortion and defense of religious freedom.

On the left, the pope is trying to rein in German bishops who—encouraged by the pope’s liberalizing gestures on topics including sexuality, ecumenism and the role of women—are pressing for changes that go further than Pope Francis is comfortable with, and that conservatives warn could…