{"id":14421,"date":"2025-04-26T06:15:57","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T06:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421"},"modified":"2025-04-26T06:15:57","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T06:15:57","slug":"the-battle-for-the-catholic-churchs-future-will-not-be-over-doctrine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421","title":{"rendered":"The battle for the Catholic Church\u2019s future will not be over doctrine"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description\"><span>Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=57dc3191-2a54-4156-b8d4-d5f965cb387d\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p><em>The writer is a biographer of Pope Francis and co-authored \u2018Let Us Dream: the Path to a Better Future\u2019 with him<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Today, the cardinals mourn and bury Pope Francis. As they do so, they will be casting discreet glances at each other, wondering who will come next.<\/p>\n<p>Nerves will run high in anticipation of electing the 266th successor of St Peter, yet they will not be alone. The cardinals believe their task is to discern God\u2019s choice, and have the Holy Spirit to assist them. For this, they must consider the state of the world and the Church, listen carefully to each other, and keep an open mind and heart. From Monday until they go into conclave in early May, the contours of the next papacy will begin to emerge, in daily discussions in the synod hall, and in informal evening gatherings where they will toss around names. \u201cI\u2019ve heard good things about Cardinal X. What do you know about him?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As when buying a property, it is one thing to make a list of ideal qualities and another to look at what is actually on the market. No single cardinal can meet every expectation: choices must be made, which in turn reflect\u00a0priorities. It is here that perspectives vary. But the <em>Conclave <\/em>clich\u00e9 of a battle between blocs of \u201cprogressives\u201d and blocs of \u201cconservatives\u201d arguing over ethical or doctrinal questions is perhaps the least useful way of framing those disagreements.<\/p>\n<p>It was largely true once, when papal elections were decided by Europeans. But the Catholic Church today is a universal, multi-polar institution made up of many \u201ccentres\u201d, a fact that Francis \u2014 the first non-European pope in many centuries \u2014 sought to reflect in the diversity of his nominations. <\/p>\n<p>Cardinals currently come from 94 different countries. True, Europe remains the heavyweight with 53 electors, yet its congregations are fast shrinking. Most Catholics these days are in the Americas, which have 37 electors. But congregations are growing fastest in Asia and Africa, which have 23 and 18 electors respectively. <\/p>\n<p>While the Church in the west struggles to maintain its heavy legacy of properties, in the southern continents it lacks the resources to build churches and schools fast enough for an expanding flock. Cultural differences now increasingly shape the discussion of ethical questions but these are not so much disagreements over doctrine itself, as to how that doctrine is applied.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It is more useful to frame the differences between the cardinals in terms of how the Church evangelises. How should it bring the Gospel to society, in order to create a home for all that better reflects what Jesus called \u201cGod\u2019s Kingdom\u201d? This concerns what one might call the Church\u2019s \u201cstyle\u201d \u2014 its way of being, its culture, its mindset. And here some of the differences between the cardinals run deep, as revealed in their responses to the Francis era. <\/p>\n<p>The late pope\u2019s reforms reflected his profound understanding of what the Church must do in what he called the \u201cchange of era\u201d marked by the general expulsion of Christianity from law and culture. Francis deplored the \u201cnegative view\u201d of the Church\u2019s diminished social relevance, contrasting it with what he called the \u201cdiscerning view\u201d. The negative view, born of frustration at the loss of prestige, seeks to recover or shore up what it is attached to. Its criticism of secularisation masks what Francis called a \u201cnostalgia for a sacralised world, a bygone society in which the Church and her ministers had greater power and social relevance\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>The discerning view, in contrast, understands the dramatic shifts of the past few decades as a God-given shock that gives the Church the chance to change both its internal culture and how it relates to the world, in order to better perform what Francis called \u201cGod\u2019s style\u201d.\u00a0Last year, he spoke of the need to embrace a \u201cminority Christianity or, better, a Christianity of witness\u201d. This is a witness of mercy and joy, of humility and service, of simplicity and freedom, of a love that forgives, in which the Church, freed from attachments, can better reflect God\u2019s own way of relating to humanity, and build a more fraternal world.<\/p>\n<p>In the way he exercised the papacy, Francis gave us a masterclass in God\u2019s style. He was a captivating evangeliser, a compelling teacher, engaging and humble, who was attentive to the complexity of people\u2019s lives. Unafraid of diversity, he let all be \u201cseen\u201d, especially those whom society sidelines. The vast numbers in Rome this week are proof of his profound impact.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yet this style made many leaders in the Church uncomfortable, especially in the US and eastern Europe, where culture-war Catholicism remains strong. Here Francis stands accused of downplaying the demands of doctrine, and of compromising the clarity of Church teaching. Such criticism reveals the idea to which some \u2014 not most, but many \u2014 cardinals remain attached: of an institution that moralises by teaching, that demands loyalty, confers a cultural identity and seeks alliances of power.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But the world for which that institution was created has moved on. The future of the Church lies now, as in the early centuries, in its witness from below, in its capacity to walk with the seekers and the searchers and the wounded of this world. The struggle of the 2025 conclave will not be over doctrine, but over whether the decline of institutional Christianity is seen as a call to go back and double down, or to wake up to the conversion that Francis so powerfully embodied.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/57dc3191-2a54-4156-b8d4-d5f965cb387d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The writer&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14421","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The battle for the Catholic Church\u2019s future will not be over doctrine | inFundPros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The writer is a biographer of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The battle for the Catholic Church\u2019s future will not be over doctrine | inFundPros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The writer is a biographer of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"inFundPros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-26T06:15:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/https3A2F2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net2Fproduction2F2abc6960-2e32-45c2-a86b-bc9b904bfec6.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"393\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Press Room\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Press Room\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Press Room\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/87f7e632b195ea95c91503d9281f5eff\"},\"headline\":\"The battle for the Catholic Church\u2019s future will not be over doctrine\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-26T06:15:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-26T06:15:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421\"},\"wordCount\":956,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421\",\"name\":\"The battle for the Catholic Church\u2019s future will not be over doctrine | inFundPros\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-26T06:15:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-26T06:15:57+00:00\",\"description\":\"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The writer is a biographer of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The battle for the Catholic Church\u2019s future will not be over doctrine\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/\",\"name\":\"Fintech Advance\",\"description\":\"Latest Finance and Tech News and Updates\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Fintech Advance\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/tech-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/tech-logo.png\",\"width\":409,\"height\":70,\"caption\":\"Fintech Advance\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/87f7e632b195ea95c91503d9281f5eff\",\"name\":\"Press Room\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/avatar_user_1_1697230663-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/avatar_user_1_1697230663-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Press Room\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The battle for the Catholic Church\u2019s future will not be over doctrine | inFundPros","description":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The writer is a biographer of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The battle for the Catholic Church\u2019s future will not be over doctrine | inFundPros","og_description":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The writer is a biographer of","og_url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421","og_site_name":"inFundPros","article_published_time":"2025-04-26T06:15:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":393,"url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/https3A2F2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net2Fproduction2F2abc6960-2e32-45c2-a86b-bc9b904bfec6.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Press Room","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Press Room","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421"},"author":{"name":"Press Room","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/87f7e632b195ea95c91503d9281f5eff"},"headline":"The battle for the Catholic Church\u2019s future will not be over doctrine","datePublished":"2025-04-26T06:15:57+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-26T06:15:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421"},"wordCount":956,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421","url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421","name":"The battle for the Catholic Church\u2019s future will not be over doctrine | inFundPros","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-04-26T06:15:57+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-26T06:15:57+00:00","description":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The writer is a biographer of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=14421#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The battle for the Catholic Church\u2019s future will not be over doctrine"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/","name":"Fintech Advance","description":"Latest Finance and Tech News and Updates","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization","name":"Fintech Advance","url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/tech-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/tech-logo.png","width":409,"height":70,"caption":"Fintech Advance"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/87f7e632b195ea95c91503d9281f5eff","name":"Press Room","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/avatar_user_1_1697230663-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/avatar_user_1_1697230663-96x96.png","caption":"Press Room"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/infundpros.com"],"url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?author=1"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14421"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14423,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14421\/revisions\/14423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}