UNITED STATES
The Daily Beast

WRITTEN BY
Candida Moss

Conservative Catholics, angry at Pope Francis’s more moderate tone, are bucking the Church’s hierarchy.

Almost from the beginning, there have been rumblings of discontent about Pope Francis I. While the world’s media fell in love with him, there were more conservative bishops who felt that Francis’s popular appeal came at the expense of carefully worked-out Church rituals and teachings. They saw Francis as chipping away at established Church teachings on sexuality, kowtowing to the liberal media, and acting aggressively towards conservative church leaders.

Criticism of Francis has come to a head with the publication of the final report of the Synod on the Family. Despite changing absolutely nothing doctrinally, the Synod’s recommendations for a more understanding attitude to those in unconventional family arrangements have ignited a firestorm of controversy among conservative commentators. The possibility that Catholics who had divorced…