U.S. Catholic Leaders Signal Resistance to Pope’s Agenda
Archbishop Joseph Naumann elected chairman of the committee on Pro-Life Activities in 96-82 vote
BALTIMORE—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops chose a conservative archbishop for a key post Tuesday, signaling resistance to Pope Francis’s vision for the church among the Catholic hierarchy in the U.S.
Archbishop Joseph Naumann, of Kansas City, was elected chairman of the committee on Pro-Life Activities. In a vote of 96 to 82, he defeated Cardinal Blase Cupich, of Chicago, who is seen as a liberal in the church and a close ally of the pope.
The vote breaks a longstanding tradition of the position being held by a cardinal—an unusual lapse of deference in a highly rank-conscious body—and suggests that Catholic leaders in the U.S. remain largely resistant to the changes Pope Francis is trying to bring to the church.
Some experts said that the slim margin of the vote shows growing support for Pope Francis’s agenda; others said it mostly reflected the tradition of a cardinal holding the post.
Like all the bishops, Archbishop Naumann and Cardinal Cupich are both strong opponents of abortion and euthanasia. Archbishop Naumann said that he would keep the committee focused on those two issues, as it has been in recent years.
Cardinal Cupich, meanwhile, indicated that he would have broadened the committee’s focus to include other issues like the death penalty, health care and poverty—a list more in line with the priorities Pope Francis advocated for.
“It is clear since 2013 that a majority of them sees the message of Francis’ pontificate, esp. on life and marriage, as not adequate for the Catholic Church in the USA,” Massimo Faggioli, a theologian at Villanova, said on Twitter after the vote Tuesday.
Stephen Schneck, a former director of the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies at the Catholic University of America, said the vote indicated the continued resistance to Pope Francis among the U.S. bishops.
“This is obviously a break with tradition, in that it’s going to someone who’s not a cardinal,” Mr. Schneck. “But I think it’s a very accurate picture of where the U.S. episcopacy is in relation to the efforts we see coming from Pope Francis and Rome.”
The election will also have domestic political implications. In recent decades, abortion has led the Catholic church into an alliance with the Republican Party, said Patti Miller, author of “Good Catholics: The Battle Over Abortion in the Catholic Church.” That alliance might have been challenged had Cardinal Cupich won, she said.
“The USCCB is a conservative organization and clearly a majority of the bishops have no intention of backing down from the message that abortion is the most critical issue for Catholics, which is what this vote signifies,” Ms. Miller said. “The 96-82 margin suggests that more moderate voices may be ascendant in the conference and will continue to push a…framework that equalizes abortion with other social justice issues.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-catholic-leaders-signal-resistance-to-popes-agenda-1510677737
