by Angus Harley

It was the boast of Roman Catholicism for centuries, even up until recent years, that it never changed. Protestantism, by contrast, was splintered and full of diverse beliefs, but the RC church was one in doctrine, practices, and people, and led by one man, the pope. 

A new, Woke, papacy

Rome was always changing, truth be told. Nowadays, not even the most dyed-in-the-wool RC traditionalist can doubt that RCism is now dedicated to the Woke agenda and proudly carries its rainbow banner of diversity and change. 

This tectonic shift was underscored by recent events. Only days ago, the pope removed from office a prominent Texas bishop, a political conservative and RC traditionalist, who was openly against Francis.1 He was protesting that Francis had recently given to RC churches the green light to allow a section of the LGBTQ+ community to become part of the RC church. Francis permitted them to  be baptized; become witnesses at a RC wedding; act as godparents and  parents; even cohabiting persons of a homosexual disposition can be godparents; and, the pope allowed for any ‘believing’  cohabiting person to be the witness at a RC marriage, too.2 

What is particularly striking about Francis’ dealings with the bishop is that he takes no prisoners. It is his way or the highway. His model of tolerance is, in typical Woke style, intolerant of those who are not equally devoted to the Woke cause. 

As to the document itself, it is marked out by both what it says and does not say. There is no discussion about the traditional RC view of homosexuality. Nor is the document about homosexuals as such. The statement is mainly concerned with absorbing transgenders into the RC church as “believers”.

Three things stand out from this: 1) the modern RC church is way, way beyond accepting ‘gays’ into its church, it having been achieved a time ago; 2) the newest push, or phase, has moved on to modern culture’s current preoccupation with transgenderism; 3) the method of Francis is typical of the postmodern style: traditional beliefs are ripped from their context and made to serve the modern Woke agenda. For example, Francis and co. cite Aquinas and Augustine as approving the view that the sacrament of baptism can be applied to the “Christian” without repentance, for its form remains imprinted on the baptized one, and acts as the platform for repentance that might come afterward. This distinction between the form of baptism and its spiritual efficacy in repentance allows the RC church to incorporate gays and now transgenders. In that way, RC ancient theologians are enlisted to promote the Woke ideology.

The caveat (concession?) the RC church makes is that the transgender one being baptized must recognize that he/she must not practice the lifestyle of one who is gay. Things are a little more tricky, however, with the transgender group, for its problem, as far as RCism is concerned, is that a transgender person might give up homosexual practices but what about cross-dressing, etc.? One would assume that they must be dropped as well. Then again, the document would be the place to state such a distinction, and it is silent on the matter. Although Alexander the Great cut through the Gordian Knot, Francis’s solution on the face of things is to ignore the moral dilemmas, for the Roman church, thrown up by the LGBTQ+ movement. As we will see, Francis learned many decades before that one can simply ignore and bypass obstacles, to allow time and change to iron out the wrinkles. 

Duped Evangelicals

Of course, at heart, these woes and ways of Catholicism have nothing to do with the Evangelical Gospel,  but as culture has a nasty habit of infecting us all, we would do well to keep an eye on Catholicism’s newest idol of inculturation, which is the Catholic word for pastorally reaching out to the people and nations via culture, for it is this model that drives modern Catholicism and Francis.3

Take the following examples. Evangelical leaders continue to follow the lead of Rome, or at least absorb some of their ideas. And these folks are not all ‘Progressives’. Even some of the most die-hard conservative Evangelicals, including those who are ‘Reformed’, look favorably on modern Rome, or aspects of it. It was only in 1994 that ‘Evangelicals and Catholics Together’ was created that joined together both prominent conservative Evangelicals, such as J. I. Packer, with Roman Catholic theologians. More recently, such a celebrated star as Al Mohler heaped praise upon Mother Teresa,4 and also borrowed hook, line, and sinker the RC approach to the ‘gay inclination’, and used it to then whack over the head those ‘nasty’ Evangelicals who heavily criticized gays, and made them feel unwelcome to the church!5 Then there was Billy Graham’s notorious stance with Catholics, and his inclusivist beliefs which he held in common with RCism. One could go on and on.

Why did Packer and co. compromise with Catholicism? Fundamentally because they tampered with the Gospel, just like Peter did and Paul had to rebuke him (Gal.2). Many have made excellent critiques of Graham, Packer, and others, and we don’t need to rehearse those arguments here, since our focus is culture. As to it, certain Evangelicals either failed to recognize the true nature and direction of the new RC paradigm (Packer and Mohler?), or they welcomed it, creating their own Evangelical version of it (Graham). 

In simple terms, RCism had committed itself in Vatican II to inculturalism. Traditional Romanism relied on the ‘Magisterium’ of Rome: the pope and his cardinals, along with RC tradition, law, and dogma, used to control all things. The Vatican city projected power to the nations- centralized power through the Magisterium. However, Rome’s power waned, for it never had a true Gospel, and it was riddled with sexual and financial scandals. To turn things round, it required a revolution. This happened at Vatican II, a series of meetings in the Sixties that resulted in various documents and statements about the new direction of Rome. In essence, the new way was to meld Catholicism with modern culture, for it was concluded that the key to reviving Catholicism and ‘unlocking the nations’ was to blend with culture. 

Coming back to those duped Evangelicals, they did not see that Rome had simply absorbed Evangelical ideas as part of its inculturation process. After all, Evangelicalism was part of culture. This is what Mohler et. al. did not properly comprehend. The simple truth is that Evangelicalism is but one model absorbed by Rome. It’s stated aim being to unite the family of God (=the whole of the human race) throughout the earth (see ahead).

We can be concrete concerning Rome’s seeming ‘Evangelical’ transformation. Modern Rome has imbibed some elements of an Evangelical form of doing church, and also borrowed salvation terminology from Evangelicalism. The result? Well, a blend of hand-raising worship, congregational participation, all the while praising Mary and the saints and issuing the sacraments of salvific merit.

Doctrinally, the Gospel content is similarly a hybrid. Inculsivism is the view that salvation is found in other religions, not because of their dogma, but because most religions give rise to pious and good practitioners who love their fellow humans, who want to take care of the world, wish for world peace, and allow others to worship as they deem fit. These pious folks, although most of whom are not professing Christian, are actually believers in God, and even in Christ. It doesn’t matter that they do not make such a profession; what counts is the spiritual and ethical lifestyle of love and a belief in deity. It was within this wider context of inclusivism that Rome sent forth emissaries to Evangelicalism, whilst sending similar emissaries to various religions. It’s all the same, you see. So, for example, Mother Teresa- that veritable embodiment of Catholic modernity- actually in real life at one time practiced worship in a Buddhist temple, before its gods.

What seemed like Catholics becoming Evangelical was, in reality, Catholics absorbing of culture- including world religions- taking features of culture and religion that suited Rome’s new direction.

Same engine, different model

Rome was and is about merit salvation. Nothing at all has changed in that regard. The sacraments are as crucial as ever, and worship of Mary grows and grows and grows. However, the model of the vehicle is vastly different. If the old papacy was a tank used to bring firepower against the nations, the new Rome is an ambulance of cultural absorption that wants to bring healing to God’s worldwide family.

Different breed of cat

The impact of this on the ordinary Catholic is to create a ‘different breed of cat’, for the modern Catholic is, at heart, a culturalist, and an inclusivist-pluralist. 

For example, I teach world religions, including RCism, at a modern Roman Catholic university. I am a traditional Protestant. How did I get a job there? Because of the modern RC emphasis on diversity. 

I have found over the 15 years or so there, that Catholicism is  generally split between the older generations and younger. The former being more traditional, the latter the ‘cultural reformers’. With only one exception I can recall, I have found that the younger generations are comfortable with Rome’s reforming ways. In typical Vatican II style, these Catholics are happy to mix in various cultural ways with their own personal spiritual preferences. So, before class starts, two Catholic girls might personally discuss how they went out the night before ‘on the town’, and slept with someone, and then in class approve of the reforming process in Catholicism, adding to it their own spiritual preferences that are taken from their own experiences, from family traditions, and from non-Catholic spiritualities and religions. A veritable mish-mash of cultural influences. Others again may be more conservative morally, more in alignment with traditional Catholic values of morality, yet be happy to say that Islam is not only a religion of peace, but as an Abrahamic religion is a true way to God (or a true-ish way). So many permutations and possibilities; too many to mention; a smorgasbord of possibilities. And, so, each Catholic, like a Hindu, has his/her own top gods (Mary and Jesus), with subordinate family gods (the saints), and then personal gods (one’s own personal preferences for spirituality).

The Francis cult

During the earlier years of Vatican II, the ultimate embodiment of the new Rome of inculturation was Mother Teresa. She was happy to allow Hindus to die according to their faith. She would offer to share Christ with them, but was of the view that pious Hindus knew Christ, even if they did not professing faith in him. We were all one family before God, after all, and we needed to love and take care of our fellow ‘brothers and sisters’.

However, the one who brought Vatican II’s reforming agenda to the Catholic masses was Francis. Up until him, previous popes had done their part to promote Vatican II’s modernization process, but the time was not ripe for Vatican II’s public enthronement. This came to pass in Francis. He was somewhat establishment Rome, but then again, he was vastly different. He was not Italian- but was of Italian descent- and was from Argentina, the continent of South America. Certainly, he was your typical pope in that he was a skilled politician. But he was far, far more than this. He was more like a modern social media personality with highly tuned PR skills. Most potently, he was a man of the people, mixing with them, always on the move among them. When as the more humble Jorge Bergoglio he was cardinal of Argentina, he practiced the new Vatican II model to perfection. He absorbed Evangelical churchmanship, making ‘doing church’ about the local church and the active participation of members. Still all the while retaining a typical Catholic adherence to merit-religion and the sacraments, along with belief in Mary and the saints. He was active on the ground, mixing with the ordinary people, constantly visiting places. He developed ecumenical ties with some of the Charismatic/Pentecostal groups. He learned to absorb aspects of modern culture, promoting all the while the universal family of God and therapeutic and pastoral care for all people. He jumped on board the ‘green’ train, arguing extensively for Catholics and all people to be good stewards of this world. Francis was the embodiment of Vatican II- ‘the’ man!

Yet, more is to be said. Francis is not just the leader of the new, modern Catholic movement, its figurehead and purveyor: in him coalesce, as if in bodily form, all the modernizing powers and influences of RCism. He ‘is’ new Catholicism. It centers on him and his persona: the Francis cult! Like Teresa, he has taken it upon himself, with the backing of others, to blast a modernist path. Although the Vatican is overtly inclusivist in its view of salvation, in practice, and more and more in stated belief, it is pluralist. In other words, Francis’ view of other religions is so blurred that he might as well say that all the world religions are true paths to God. 

The new leader of humanity

Old-school Catholicism was founded on the premise that the pope was Christ on earth, and that God channeled a giant laser of power from heaven via the pope in Rome. The nations were to come and kiss the pope’s hand. Salvation and the kingdom of God were, in other words, located on earth. Earth was the theater of God’s kingdom, and the throne was in Rome, so that mankind had to be brought to heal through the pope’s scepter and sword.

Francis has not changed the underlying assumption that this world is the location of God’s kingdom. It’s all about this world. Yet, Francis has taken this to a new level. In typical SJ warrior style, salvation is not about being Romish as in the old days, but about the whole of humanity as one family fixing the social ills of this world. One prominent example of this new model is found in Francis’ encyclical “On Care for Our Common Home.”6 In it, he argues that the “whole human family” must come together to preserve the planet and not destroy it. It is our common home. Rome was once thought of as a bastion in this world, projecting its power from the seat of the Vatican into the world. The world was theirs, for God had given it to them, and nations and religions had to bow to the RC church. By contrast, the modern Catholic church is attempting to be a worldwide entity, depicting itself as first and foremost ‘human’, and more particularly as brothers and sisters within the whole human ‘family’.  Therefore, all religions, all governements, agencies, groups, peoples, organizations, and individuals can come together as a family to make our home (this world!) safe and secure. The axiomatic nature of a worldwide divine family that expresses God’s kingdom on earth drives the idea of inclusivism, and opens the door to all humanity as our brothers and sisters. It is this philosophy of a divine kingdom of the earth that propels Francis’ SJ-salvation mindset. Old-school Catholicism is replaced by old-school theological liberalism and its social agenda.

We can take the most recent statement by Francis that are a stunning example of the above. He called for a ceasefire in the Middle East. In talking about Francis’ response, the online news forum Vatican News interviewed Professor Mustafa Abu Sway of the Islamic religious school of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.7 It doesn’t seem to matter that that Palestinian authorities have, even before the outbreak of recent hostilities, falsely charged the Israeli government with seeking to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque.8 To this day, it has been noted that Francis has generically denounced war, violence, and terrorism related to the Palestinian outbreak, but he has never stated that he denounced Hamas’s attacks. Indeed, it is said by some that Francis took a sick day in order to avoid speaking to European rabbis. As a result, the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences issued a statement condemning Hamas as terrorists.9 Those things being said, we should see in the bishops’ response another example of the break up of the Catholic power-base and an open challenge to Francis.

Prognosis

The modern paradigm of Woke Catholicism is built upon the Francis cult. He is carry things all by himself, and when he falls, some of the impetus for modernization will die off. The question of his successor is therefore crucial, and already behind the scenes various parties are jockeying for position and are challenging his power. Yet, there is no going back to the old ways, contra the aspirations of the tiny minority of old-school traditionalists. Pandora’s box was opened in the Sixties, the black rat got out, and Francis was the merchant ship that brought the plague to the modern Catholic. There is no going back. What is still possible, however, is that the ‘new conservatives’- those ‘conservatives’ who align with Vatican II and who read it in a more conservative fashion- will ascend to power in the Vatican. They really don’t like the way the pope-man is “redefining the spirit of Vatican II”.10

The battle is heating up and will get very ugly. Francis is older, and could die any moment. More and more his critics are emboldened. That Texas bishop was the perfect example. Yet, Francis has only himself to blame. He embodies reform, and has promoted so strongly that he’s ‘just one of the boys’ and first among equals, that this has given courage to others to critique him openly. But the rebellion is deeper yet. Even more recently, the Catholic church in Germany openly opposed him. After enough time proclaiming the Woke Gospel and promoting the idea that the pope-man is no longer the king on the throne of the Vatican, projecting martial power to the nations, it was inevitable that groups arose that simply ignored and bypassed him. The new Catholic way is decentralization, giving more and more power to national synods and laity. Some national synods have made hay with this, and Germany’s synod is the most vocal at this time. Not to be too blunt, it is saying that it really doesn’t need Francis. In this instance, however, the German synod is even more rabidly liberal and Woke than Francis!11

Francis has not read history. The devourer always gets eaten by his offspring. Those who led the French Revolution were quickly murdered by their revolutionary children. Vatican II unleashed the beast, Francis thinks he can control it, but now it is seeking to devour its master. Francis’ lamentable ignorance is starkest in regard to Liberal Protestantism. It, and then Barthianism (Neo-orthodoxy), rejected traditional Reformation teaching and the centrality of salvation by faith alone. If you can’t beat culture become it, was the motto of Protestant Liberalism long before Rome stole it. Whereas Neo-Orthodoxy’s bestial feature was that it took Evangelical/traditional Protestant terminology, eviscerated it, and filled it with its own abominable theology. What was the result of both these movements? Protestant churches and denominations, along with many a seminary, were poisoned by them, and immediately began to decline. Whereas, Evangelical churches are still here, and are is growing here and there. The simple fact is that, Francis and Vatican II are, ironically, launching into the air a ‘Hail Mary’ of the football type, but it will not work, as Liberal Protestantism has shown. For religion that is based on culture by its very nature becomes redundant, for nobody does the world better than the world! Liberal Protestantism is now a peripheral Social Justice group. It’s ‘spirituality’ being the SJ ethical way. Just look at the ‘Salvation’ Army. What a joke! These SJ ‘Protestant’ groups have nothing truly spiritual and salvific to offer the ordinary man, woman, and child in sin. The Gospel is rejected as to its traditional form. A new heaven and earth are meaningless, since this world is what it is all about. Francis is replicating the same theology, and will reap the same disastrous results.

A possible scenario is that Rome will eventually turn into a confederation of sorts. Vatican centrality and its iron-fist are gone. National synods will develop more of a voice, garnering more and more power. Congregational power will grow. We’ve seen the same thing in international Anglicanism. Perhaps traditionalist will retard this breakup to some degree, but they, too, will have to consolidate to create their own power-base and fiefdom. If the majority get their way, it will be another modernizing pope. But he will devolve more and more of his traditional powers, and go through the same fate as Francis. If it is a conservative-ish pope, he will be in constant wars and will end up having to make huge compromises to keep unity. Either way, all sides will consolidate power, and take it upon themselves to create their own localized form of Catholicism. Eventually a strong man of sorts might arise (a bit like Napoleon). The formidable Vatican PR team, Rome’s civil-service elite, will cover the mess up as best it can, with the aid and compliance of social media and the media, but it will be impossible to hide all the bodies.

Lessons to be learned

The biggest, most obvious, lesson for Evangelicals is, don’t be duped by Rome and enculturation. What’s the modern saying, ‘Go Woke; go broke!’ So, ‘Follow the pope; destroy hope!’ Salvation by works is still Rome’s staple. Now it is salvation by the merit of social justice, enculturation,  plus the Roman Catholic religious-merit system as tweaked by Vatican II. Don’t follow the pope-man!

Recognize the chameleon nature of Rome stems from its greedy absorption of culture, both secular and religious. It is truly exasperating to hear Evangelicals hesitate about Catholics. If I had a dollar for the amount of times I’ve heard about a Catholic who accepts the Gospel, yet continues to remain in Rome. The modern Catholic might in some ways look Evangelical, but, dear brother and sister, look again at that same Catholic- he/she also looks Islamic there, Buddhist there, secular over there. The modern Catholic is generally Catholic in form- to use Francis’ method concerning baptism- but diverse in practice. Jesus, Paul, and the apostles and prophets, did not preach merely what the Gospel was; what it was not was just as important. Jesus did not say, “I am the way, the truth and the life” alone; but added the negative, “no man comes to the Father but by me.” Repentance must be tied to belief; it cannot be mere belief. I swear, if I read another post or article praising Bonhoeffer, I will scream! He said many ‘Evangelical-ish’ things. Satan is a master of disguise. Look at the rest of what Bonhoeffer writes, especially his overt denial of the supernatural and the historical resurrection of Jesus. Please, believers, don’t be naive, understand Satan’s work!

Finally, the kingdom of God is not part of this world, let alone equated with it, or absorbed into it. Jesus said, “ “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm” ” (John 18:36). As long as Evangelicals continue to think that God’s kingdom is somehow equated with, or part of, this world, they will always have an ear for the pope and people like him. The kingdom of God is from heaven itself, the reign of God over and on earth, but not as part of it. God’s kingdom in his Son is depicted in martial terms as an invading army fighting against the forces of evil in this world as a kingdom. He will one day conquer the world and its evil forces, and the world as a kingdom of evil will bow to him (Rev.11:15). Our job is not to make fallen humanity’s life more comfortable on earth, but to bring the Gospel to the nations at war with God. But I will say more on this in another article.

1 Editorial, “Pope Francis removes Tyler’s Bishop Strickland,” The Pillar, Nov.11, 2023, https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/pope-francis-removes-tylers-bishop; Tobi Raji, Michelle Boorstein, Vatican Remove Conservative Bishop who criticized Pope Francis,” Washington Post, Nov.11 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2023/11/11/vatican-removes-bishop-joseph-strickland/.

2 Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith, Responses to H. E. Msgr. Negri, Oct.31, 2023, pdf document, https://reasonandtheology.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/rc_ddf_20231031-documento-mons-negri-en-1-1-3.pdf.

3Pontifical Council for Culture, “Towards a Pastoral Approach to Culture”, Vatican.va, May 23, 1999,,https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/cultr/documents/rc_pc_pc-cultr_doc_03061999_pastoral_en.html.

4 Albert Mohler, “Faith Without Works is Dead: An Evangelical Meditation on Mother Teresa,” Albert Mohler, July 16, 2009, https://albertmohler.com/2009/07/16/faith-without-works-is-dead-an-evangelical-meditation-on-mother-teresa.

5 Albert Mohler, “Aftermath: Ministering in a Post-Marriage Culture” (keynote address, The Gospel, Homosexuality, and the Future of Marriage, national conference of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, Nashville, TN, October 27–29, 2014), video, 29:22, October 28, 2014, http://erlc.com/resource-library/event-messages/aftermath-ministering-in-a-post-marriage-culture-albert-mohler.

6 Pope Francis, Vatican.va, “Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ of the Holy Father Francis on Care for Our Common Home”, May 24th, 2015,  https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.

7 Joseph Tulloch, “Al-Aqsa Professor: Pope Francis has ‘clear voice’ on Gaza: more must be done”,  Vatican News, Nov 17, 2023, https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2023-11/professor-mustafa-abu-sway-pope-francis-gaza-church-islam.html.

8 Robert Spencer, “Palestinian Authority: Israel plans to destroy al-Aqsa Mosque and harm all Muslim and Christian holy sites”, Jihad Watch, September 9, 2023, https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/09/palestinian-authority-israel-plans-to-destroy-al-aqsa-mosque-and-harm-all-christian-and-muslim-holy-sites.

9 John L. Allen Jr., Explaining Pope Francis’s Perceived ‘Ambiguity’ on Israel and Judaism”, Catholic Herald, November 9, 2023, Explaining Pope Francis’s perceived ‘ambiguity’ on Israel and Judaism – Catholic Herald.

10Joe Ferullo, “Pope Francis is redefining ‘the spirit of Vatican II’, National Catholic Reporter, n.d., https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/ncr-voices/pope-francis-redefining-spirit-vatican-ii.

11“Pope Francis expresses ‘concerns’ about German Synodal Way, says it threatens church unity” Catholic News Agency, November 21, 2023, https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256068/breaking-pope-francis-intervenes-with-german-synodal-way.