KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter
January 22, 2019
By Peter Feuerherd
Pope Francis is confusing, is weak on enforcing doctrine, and sows discord among believers, according to a cadre of faculty at Sacred Heart Major Seminary here who regularly express their consternation online and in other public forums.
Behind the iron gates of Sacred Heart Seminary, noted for its imposing Gothic architecture, there is a loyal opposition to Pope Francis, with a number of professors questioning the pontiff’s approach to doctrinal and moral issues. They say he is too lax on a roster of issues, including LGBT people in the church, capital punishment, and Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics.
Sacred Heart students include 120 seminarians studying for 10 dioceses and an eparchy from the Midwest, as well as four religious orders, and 365 lay students, most of whom are studying for teaching and lay ministry positions in the Detroit Archdiocese.
Some Sacred Heart professors have suggested that the pope should resign. One noted on social media that Francis’ most prominent clerical critic, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, should be pope, a post that was quickly edited with an added “(jk),” meaning “just kidding.”
Another professor, Edward Peters, argued in an online post Sept. 5, 2018, that if Viganò’s accusations are true that the pope knew about sexual harassment and abuse by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Francis should resign.
Peters, a professor of canon law, has argued on his contentious blog that Francis has been pastorally reckless and wrongheaded in his approach. The most outspoken of the pope’s social media critics from Sacred Heart, Peters also argues that the pope overstepped his authority with a blanket condemnation of the death penalty last August.
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