Demos II: Anonymous cardinal excoriates ‘vindictive’ Francis for fracturing Church
An anonymous cardinal has launched an astonishing attack on Pope Francis’s style of papacy, saying it is autocratic, vindictive and confusing and that it has left the Church “more fractured than at any time in her recent history”.
The cardinal, who wishes to be unnamed in fear of reprisals, set out a blueprint for what must be done by the next pope to repair the damage of the Francis years.
He acknowledged that Francis’s strengths included “compassion toward the weak, outreach to the poor and marginalised, concern for the dignity of creation” and for people who were suffering and burdened but said the shortcomings of the present papacy “are equally obvious”.
He said such failures included “an autocratic, at times seemingly vindictive, style of governance; a carelessness in matters of law; an intolerance for even respectful disagreement; and – most seriously – a pattern of ambiguity in matters of faith and morals causing confusion among the faithful”.
The cardinal said: “Confusion breeds division and conflict. It undermines confidence in the Word of God. It weakens evangelical witness. And the result today is a Church more fractured than at any time in her recent history.”
The document called “The Vatican Tomorrow” appeared in the Daily Compass website under the name Demos II, a reference to the 2022 letter by “Demos” – later revealed to be authored by the late Australian Cardinal George Pell.
The unnamed cardinal offers seven “practical observations” for the next pontiff.
First, he says real authority is damaged by authoritarian means in its exercise, emphasising the Pope “is not an autocrat.”
He cannot change Church doctrine, and he must not invent or alter the Church’s discipline arbitrarily.
“A new Pope must restore the hermeneutic of continuity in Catholic life and reassert Vatican II’s understanding of the papacy’s proper role,” Demos II wrote.
Second, he said just as the Church is not an autocracy, “neither is she a democracy,” adding that thee popes “have no authority” to refashion Church’s teachings “to fit more comfortably with the world”.
Third, Demos II says ambiguity is neither evangelical nor welcoming. “Rather, it breeds doubt and feeds schismatic impulses,” he said.
Fourth, the cardinal emphasises the Catholic Church is also a community of law, and accuses Francis of having “excessive reliance on the motu proprio as a tool for governance and a general carelessness and distaste for canonical detail”.
Fifth, he said the Church can never be reduced to “a system of flexible ethics or sociological analysis and remodelling to fit the instincts and appetites (and sexual confusions) of an age,” and added that one of the key flaws” of Francis’s rule is “its retreat from a convincing ‘theology of the body’” – the theological philosophy developed by Pope St John Paul II.
Sixth, Demos II said the global travel of a pope should be reduced, claiming the Church in Italy and throughout Europe is in crisis, and the next pontiff needed to offer his “presence, direct attention, and personal engagement”.
Finally, the document says Francis has “failed to bring cardinals together in regular consistories designed to foster genuine collegiality and trust among brothers” and in the future, if the college is to serve its purposes, “the cardinals who inhabit it need more than a red zucchetto and a ring”.
The cardinal wrote: “Today’s College of Cardinals should be proactive about getting to know each other to better understand their particular views regarding the Church, their local church situations, and their personalities – which impact their consideration of the next pope.”
In his document, Demos II says he has not disclosed his real name because “candour is not welcome, and its consequences can be unpleasant” under the present pontificate “despite synodality’s decentralising claims, among other things”.
Francis has moved swiftly and ruthlessly against priests, bishops and cardinals opposed to his reforms or critical of his style of governance while protecting allies even when they have accused of heinous crimes of sexual abuse and rape.
However, traditionally cardinals are not supposed to discuss who they want as a successor of the present pope until after he has died but Francis has caused such shocks in the Church that debate has already begun about how to regain confidence in the authority of the Holy See and the Magisterium.
(Photo: AFP via Getty Images)
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