An initial problem with liberal Catholicism, then, is that in the Francis era it has often ceased to make sense in light of itself. When suddenly invested with real power within the church, the liberal tendency has often betrayed its own core insights, trading longstanding arguments about the limits of ecclesiastical authority for a papal positivism that cheers the raw exercise of power as long as liberal ends are served. But as experienced today, in the battles of the Francis era, the liberal tendency doesn’t seem open to secular or liberal or non-Catholic arguments as much it seems to be steered, and therefore defined, by the demands of an increasingly post-Christian culture. Put another way, it’s perpetually difficult to distinguish the specifically Catholic aspect of the liberal Catholic program — meaning the thing that distinguishes its agenda from a generic post-Sexual Revolution progressivism, the things it wants to do that don’t all just converge on making the church more like a friendly secular N.G.O. Secular N.G.O.s can get things right, of course, and there’s nothing un-Catholic about arguing that the church should be more aligned with liberal opinion on specific policy issues — more publicly environmentalist, say, or more concerned about the rights of migrants.

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Persons: Francis, papalism, we’re, — Organizations: Vatican Council, Catholic