The Catholic Church Is Losing Its Sheen. Can Pope Francis Revive It?

The image of the Catholic Church has taken a hit over the years.

During my four-month, 32,000-km traverse of the Americas, the Pangea One World Expedition, Vatican’s weakening grip on its American strongholds was clearly visible. In the US, the population of Catholics has come down, since 1960, from 25% to 20%. In 1970, as much as 96% of Mexico’s population was Catholic. That figure is now down to 82%. It is the same story in Central and South America. Vatican’s loss has been the gain of the Protestants, Baptists, some home-grown sects – and even Islam. While driving through Chiapas, Mexico’s restless southern region, my guide, Gomez, said: “Muslims have been trickling into Chiapas in recent years. Many of them are running away from their homeland. Some natives have come under their influence and converted to Islam. That’s because they do not like the attitude of the Catholic Church and are looking for alternatives.”

Leon, in Nicaragua, has 16 Catholic churches. Three of them have closed down. The population of Catholics has come down from over 90% to 65%.

“The Catholic rules were too strict for the modern world. They don’t allow their priests to marry. The media is full of scandalous reports of homosexuality and child sex abuse amongst the Catholic clergy. People view Catholic priests with suspicion that is not groundless. Moreover, Catholic rules do not allow abortion,” said Claudio, a part-time teacher.

“Gradually, it is losing its shine. The Vatican should have a rethink about allowing priests to marry,” opined Claudio.

Why Is the Population of Catholics Growing Smaller?

In Quito, we drove up El Panecillo Hill to call on the towering Winged Virgin that blesses and protects the Quiteños, who, like others in Latin America, are rapidly deserting the Catholic Church for Protestantism. Shouting to make himself heard over the howling wind, Alejandro said: “Catholics accounted for 95% of Ecuador’s population. Last month, a study showed that figure had gone down to 80%!”

In Argentina, in the 1960s, as much as 90 % of the population professed Catholicism. Between 2008 and 2019, the proportion of Catholics dropped from 77 % to 63%. This in spite of the reigning pope in the Vatican being an Argentinian. At the Pontifical Catholic University in Buenos Aires, I met Professor Pablo Canziani, an environmentalist and a good friend of Pope Francis, who is working tirelessly to reform, rebrand and heal the image of the Catholic Church.

“I have known him since he was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires,” said Pablo. “Even after becoming the Pope, he has called me to seek advice on environmental issues. Twice he has invited me to the Vatican to brief the cardinals on global warming and climate change and share ideas with them on ways to arrest environmental destruction.”

A Champion of Poor and Marginalised

In June 2015, Pope Francis, in a letter written to all the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church, called for urgent action to stop climate change and proposed that caring for the environment be added to traditional Christian works of mercy, such as feeding the hungry and visiting the sick. "Caring for creation is as old as Genesis, as clear as the Sermon on the Mount, as transformative as St. Francis,” he wrote.

A restless champion of the poor and marginalised, Francis condemned the obsession with increasing the gross national product over mitigating poverty and disease.

His letter, an encyclical titled ‘Laudato Si’, has brought environmental issues to the fore and urged Catholics not only to reflect on these grave issues, but to act upon them, too. A new Vatican department has been created within the Holy See for environment, migration, justice, and healthcare. It remains to be seen if the Pope’s flock of 1.2 billion Catholics, many of whom are important political and business leaders, will pay any heed to his concerns.

Simplicity and Modesty

However, under the leadership of Pope Francis, the Catholic Church has a chance of revival. His simplicity, modesty, humility and focus on developmental issues are winning Christian and non-Christian hearts around the world. A son of middle-class Italian immigrants, he wears unpretentious white robes and denies himself the luxuries due to religious heads.

As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he did not move into the ornate palatial residence where he could have stretched himself on plush couches or sat with his feet on his desk, gnawing apples and sipping wine – but continued to stay in his humble flat, cooked his own meals, rode to work by public bus, and spent more time visiting slums than in exhausting his strength by sermonising from pulpits.

He cares nothing for rank and authority. Instead of giving people his blessings, he requests them for their benediction. During foreign visits, he asks the host governments not to pamper him with limousines, gifts or extravagant parties. While his predecessors could eat for days without blushing, Francis practises all manners of austerities. Defying papal convention, he condemns the death penalty and favours the giving of holy communion to divorced and remarried Catholics – and has been showing some signs of flexibility on homosexuality and contraception. However, protecting the environment seems to be his priority. He chose his papal name in the honour of St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th-century friar considered the patron saint of animals and the environment.

Pope's Denunciation of War

Opening the Holy Week Sunday, on 10 April 2022, Pope Francis called for an Easter truce in Ukraine to make room for a negotiated peace and appealed to the leaders “to make some sacrifices for the good of the people”. He will surely repeat his denunciation of war and appeal for peace at his Urbi et Orbi blessing and papal address this Easter Sunday. Though Vladimir Putin, an Orthodox Christian, Joe Biden, a Roman Catholic, and Vladimir Zelensky, a Jew, might turn their deaf ear toward him – the world is listening to this man of peace who is assiduously reviving the traditional Christian value of selfless service.

(Akhil Bakshi is the author of Arctic to Antarctic: A Journey Across the Americas. This is an opinion article and the views expressed are the author's own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)