A Cassandra Cry Against Pope Francis
The Atlantic’s Emma Green reviews Ross Douthat’s latest book, To Change the Church. Douthat, a New York Times columnist, has been a vocal critic of Pope Francis and what he sees as the pontiff’s liberal bent when it comes to doctrine. Green writes, “His focus is almost always on one topic: the pope’s efforts to address issues related to family.” Green continues, “While most Catholics might not disagree with Douthat’s claims about doctrine outright, some—including the pope—would likely foreground their description differently. Catholicism, like any religion, is indeed a set of principles and writings and teachings, but it is also the lived experience of the body of believers—the church, little c. Lived religion is inevitably messier than doctrine.”