Certainly by the close of 2023, a
group of American Roman Catholic clerics, informally headed by Cardinal Raymond
Burke (a traditionalist and legalist), were actively opposing Pope Francis. The
problem for the members of the opposition faction was that, as traditionalists,
they would take seriously the specific oath of obedience they had made to the
pope and his successors. Lest such oaths be construed as only binding when they
are convenient, which would effectively dissolve any binding, the
traditionalist were at risk of being caught by their own hypocrisy. How to
deal with such people? The pope had doubtless asked himself this very
question on multiple occasions. How does enforcing the oath square with loving
one’s detractors, even enemies? The American president Abraham Lincoln put his
political rivals on his cabinet; should Pope Francis follow suit, or should he
expunge his disloyal opposition and risk Burke’s charge of dictatorship? Does
such a charge even make sense, however, given the oath of obedience? I submit
that a Christian organization—any Christian organization—ought to be run not by
the world’s methods, but according to a radically different kingdom, possible
here and now, in the transformation of one’s own heart by serving, and even
caring for, one’s detractors. Otherwise, a Christian organization is so in name
only, and thus inherently hypocritical.
The full essay is at "Pope Francis and the Traditionalist Opposition."
