Is Pope Francis really facing a coup? Or just fake news?

[hrmjustin]

David Gibson

(RNS) As Pope Francis marks the fourth anniversary of his revolutionary papacy, the pontiff apparently finds himself besieged on all sides by crises of his own making: an open “civil war” in the Catholic Church and fears of schism, mounting opposition from the faithful and a Roman Curia so furious with his reforms that some cardinals are plotting a coup to topple him.

And those are just some of the more noteworthy threats to the church and his authority, at least in the view of various right-wing Catholic websites and pundits who have been criticizing Francis almost since the day he was elected four years ago on Monday (March 13).

Now, as the anniversary approaches, their claims have grown increasingly insistent and eye-popping, often migrating into mainstream media accounts as well.

http://religionnews.com/2017/03/10/is-pope-francis-really-facing-a-coup-or-just-fake-news/

[Cartoonist]

1. Would they need knives?

Surely the Pope is the boss.

[hrmjustin]

2. In the end the Pope is the boss but is he strong enough to control the cura.

I am not sure he is.

[Bretton Garcia]

4. If Catholics deposed a pope, it would end Catholicism

Per se. Since the adulation and fetishization of the pope, his authority, was really what distinguished Catholicism from other churches.

But, to deny the central responsibility for pederastical priests, they've been asserting the various national churches are independent. Giving Curia, bishops, more authority.

The papacy was also weakened when Benedict XVI resigned.

So maybe it's about to collapse. Or revert to something like evangelicalism. Every man his own pope.

[hrmjustin]

5. I hardly think the papacy is on the way out.

They elect a man and give him absolute power, and then the curia tries to restrict him from using it. This is an age old pattern.

If Francis wants to really get his way he will have to make curia changes.

[The Sand Reckoner]

3. Fake news? Hyperbole is more like it

There is no mechanism for underlings to remove a pope from office if he doesn't want to go. Disgruntled cardinals and bishops may secretly (or not so secretly) grumble about the pope's statements and policies, but they will never walk away from the catholic church to form their own, because it would have no standing, and they know that. The pope's authority is absolute under canon law, and all the Bill Donohues in the world can't change that.

"Civil war" and "schism" are just words the media like to use to get pages clicks. Without a credible threat to leave the church and form their own (which they will never do in this day and age), people like this have nothing but whiny bluster.