Schism is looming in the Catholic Church if Pope Francis doesn’t speak up

It seemed to signal we were to have a humbler, more accessible pope — and so it has turned out, to a certain extent.

It also seemed that he was of a more “liberal” cast of mind than his two immediate predecessors, Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. And that is also true, albeit in a limited way.

As soon as he was elected, Francis suggested in an interview that the church should talk less about issues such as abortion, and more about global poverty, climate change — and above all, mercy.

On the other hand, after 10 years in office, what doctrines have changed? The year he became pope he said the door was “closed” on women becoming priests.

He rarely talks about church teaching on contraception, but there is little indication he is about to alter that doctrine. He has adopted much softer language on homosexuality, but the overall teaching on the matter remains the same.

On transgenderism, he said only last week that: “Gender ideology, today, is one of the most dangerous ideological colonisations.” By which he means Western countries are trying to impose this way of thinking across the world.

And though he talks about abortion less regularly than John Paul II or Benedict XVI, he is still unambiguous about the matter.

Indeed, he often uses stronger language to condemn it than either of them. For example, he has said that having an abortion is like hiring a “hit man to solve a problem”.

When Francis makes remarks like these, they receive very little coverage — maybe because it doesn’t suit the narrative that he is a liberal.

By contrast, whenever he says something that does suit this narrative, his remarks tend to be amplified so as to give the impression that major doctrinal changes could be on the way.

What Pope Francis is certainly trying to do is apply church doctrine on moral issues in a softer way, which is why he emphasises mercy so much.

For example, while he has not changed the teaching on divorce, he has also said there are circumstances when divorced and remarried Catholics should be allowed to receive communion.

He knows perfectly well that, in the past, the church often applied its moral teachings too harshly and in a manner that was ultimately un-Christian.

But if Francis simply wants the church’s doctrines applied in a more forgiving manner, others within the church are using his softer approach to suggest that radical doctrinal reform is on the way.

At the behest of the Pope, Catholics worldwide have been holding local meetings, including here in Ireland, as part of a “synodal process” to discuss the church’s future.

The discussions in Germany have led to proposals which are so radical that these would split German Catholics from the universal church if implemented.

Last weekend, a huge majority of delegates at the final meeting of Germany’s synodal process voted in favour of paving the way to female ordination and the blessing of same-sex unions.​

One text they discussed was called Dealing with Gender Diversity, and 96pc of voting delegates backed it, including 38 out of 58 bishops. Only seven of the 58 voted against it, while 13 abstained.

Among other things, the text says that when a Catholic self-identifies as a different gender, their baptismal certificate should be altered to reflect this wish.

That is, the Catholic Church in Germany has voted in favour of precisely the sort of “ideological colonisation” Pope Francis has criticised.

If the bishops there insist on going down this path, they will put the German church into a state of either formal or de facto schism with Rome — even if that is not their direct intention.

While not being quite as radical so far, the Belgian church is pushing in the same general direction, with the Swiss not far behind.

In Ireland, there are influential voices who appear to want us to follow a broadly similar course of action. Leading the charge here is the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP).

For example, they champion the cause of Fr Tony Flannery, who has been forbidden by the Vatican from saying mass in public because of his stance on certain church teachings.

If you have been following this controversy at all, you could be forgiven for believing he has been censured simply for supporting ordination of women. But he also wants sweeping changes to the church’s teachings on sexual morality.​

In addition, he has questioned whether “the priesthood as we currently have it in the church originated with Jesus”.

That would pull down a very big part of the Catholic Church’s understanding of itself, and make it a lot more Protestant.

Earlier this month, ahead of the tenth anniversary of the election of Pope Francis, the ACP repeated its call that the Vatican lift its sanctions against Fr Flannery.

The statement took no issue whatsoever with his dissent from core Catholic teachings.

The ACP likes to give the impression it is furthering the agenda of Pope Francis, and we will allow that it really believes this. One of its leadership team told The Irish Times last week: “He [Pope Francis] has changed the direction in which the Irish and global church was going, seismically.”

But as we have seen, Pope Francis has introduced no doctrinal changes at all — nor is it likely that October’s synodal meeting in Rome of the worldwide church will do so.

The Pope has so far said little about the seismic developments in Germany and elsewhere. Maybe he is simply waiting for the big meeting in October where he will make his feelings known.

But eventually he will have to speak out against those trying to push the church in a far more radical direction than he wants.

If he does not act, then the legacy of his pontificate might well be schism, and he cannot want that.