The Controversial Words of Pope Francis

Few popes in living memory divided Catholics as openly as Francis, who led the Church from 2013 until his death in 2025. His “Who am I to judge?” in 2013, Amoris Laetitia on divorced and remarried Catholics, and the 2018 change to the Catechism on the death penalty each drew praise from some Catholics and alarm from others.

Father Daniel Rourke examines his statements and decisions one by one, sets each against what the Church taught before him, and shows where they conflict with earlier teaching.