CREEDE HINSHAW: Pope Francis responds to complaints of conservative Catholics

Conservative Catholics seem increasingly dismayed over the direction Pope Francis is taking the church, the Argentine pontiff having made decision after decision leaving church conservatives fuming. Many of these conservatives believe their spiritual head is some dangerous Captain Queeg, steering the grand ship onto the shoals of destruction.

The anguish will probably double in intensity now that (according to “unnamed sources”) Pope Francis demoted retired Cardinal Raymond Burke, 75, one of the leaders of the anti-Francis faction. The pope removed Cardinal Burke from his privileged Vatican residence as well as ending his retired salary. This comes on the heels of the removal from office of Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, another ecclesiastical thorn, on grounds of ineffective administration.

Cardinal Burke and others like him are unbending in doctrine and unwilling to be muzzled. Strickland, who is now a bishop with no diocese, is doubling down. With a great deal of inflated martyrdom, he accused the Pope of removing him for telling the truth and boasted he would keep on doing so even if it cost him his life.

Cardinal Burke has suggested that Pope Francis is “dividing the church” (Straight interpretation: Cardinal Burke is not getting his way.), undermining doctrine, and sowing “confusion and error.” These are strong accusations.

Bishop Strickland has thousands of followers on social media, and I suspect Cardinal Burke has quite a large audience, too. To the conservative faithful in the pews, these two men will be regarded as heroes to be congratulated as protectors and defenders of the faith.

Conservatives have many grievances. They fear Pope Francis is loosening the church’s stance on LGBTQ persons. They are worried because the pastoral pope has tried to help the Catholic Church reach out to and include remarried Catholic couples into the church, including receiving holy communion. They are upset because they can no longer celebrate Mass in Latin. They are afraid that the Pope’s heart for the immigrant knows no bounds, a shocking complaint considering the abuse immigrant Catholics endured in this country.

They are threatened by diminishing clerical and ecclesiastical power due to the papal initiative to allow more laypersons and women to be involved in church conclaves. From their viewpoint, the Catholic Church is in real danger.

I don’t know the size of Burke’s church stipend, but Pope Francis, who has endured pointed criticism and insubordination for more than a decade, seems to have concluded that although criticism and debate are acceptable, the church will no longer waste contributions subsidizing a man who, while accusing the Pope of divisiveness, is the very example of divisiveness himself. There comes a point when even the most tolerant leader must act.

The 82-year-old pontiff is slowly re-shaping the church to bring it more into line with the heart of Jesus and realign it with the honorable intentions of Vatican II. The task is not easy. But Pope Francis is an inspiration to many Catholics who recognize the movement of the Holy Spirit in his leadership.