After Francisco: the battle for the conservative soul of the Church

The death of Pope Francis -a Jesuit of 88 years-, which occurred on April 21, 2025, closes a complicated chapter in the history of the Catholic Church. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the first Latin American Pope, assumed the throne of Peter in 2013 with a message of humility, but his pontificate will be marked by controversies that fractured ecclesial unity.

From ambiguous documents to gestures that flirted with progressivism and socialism, his legacy is a battleground where traditional faith fights against the infiltration of woke and progressive-globalist ideologies and powers.

Let's take a brief look at the most controversial points of his papacy, the influence of figures like Víctor "Tucho" Fernández -prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith- and the urgent need for a conservative Pope to restore orthodoxy and defend the Truth, which is eternal, and can't be relativized, nor make concessions to hegemonic or trendy ideological currents.

Pope Francis's pontificate was characterized by a challenging doctrinal hermeneutic that baffled the faithful. A milestone was Amoris Laetitia (2016), whose paragraphs 300-305 opened the door to communion for divorced and remarried individuals.

The Amazon synod of 2019 and its exhortation Querida Amazonia (2020) deepened the tensions. Although Pope Francis did not approve the priesthood for married men, the synod promoted a certain "inculturation" close to syncretism, especially with the display of the "Pachamama" idol in the Vatican.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller denounced this act as idolatry, while emeritus cardinal Sandoval Íñiguez, in a pastoral letter of 2019, warned that such gestures diluted the faith in the name of a "misunderstood ecumenism." Pope Francis's response, calling the Pachamama a simple cultural expression, did not dispel the suspicions of a Pope prone to yielding to relativism.

The document Fiducia Supplicans (December 2023), signed by Cardinal Víctor "Tucho" Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, was a serious concern for many Catholics. It authorized blessings for homosexual couples, as long as they were not equated with marriage.

This reading provoked the Dubia of 2023 signed by Cardinals Brandmüller, Burke, Zen, Mexican Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, emeritus archbishop of Guadalajara, and Robert Sarah, on August 21. Sandoval questioned whether the document allowed for the relativization of mortal sin and sacramental discipline. Pope Francis's response was interpreted as another step toward progressivism.

The ambiguity of the text allowed readings that many, including African bishops like Robert Sarah, considered contrary to Scripture. Sandoval Íñiguez, in a January 2024 interview, called the document "a serious error" that "opens the door to moral relativism." The resistance of episcopal conferences, such as Nigeria's, evidenced a Church divided by a progressivism that, from a conservative perspective, betrays the truth of the Gospel.

Víctor "Tucho" Fernández, appointed prefect in 2023, is a central figure in this progressive drift. An Argentine theologian and personal friend of Pope Francis, Fernández is known for his book Heal Me with Your Mouth (1995), an incomprehensible text of erotic spirituality difficult to digest from a conservative stance.

His theology, centered on "pastorality" over doctrine, reflects a relativist approach that minimizes sin in favor of "inclusion." In 2023 interviews, Fernández defended Fiducia Supplicans as a "gesture of love," ignoring the criticisms. Fernández's influence, from a conservative eye, symbolizes the infiltration of progressive-globalism aligned with woke ideology.

Pope Francis's meetings with notorious leftist leaders reinforced the criticisms. In 2015, he met with the insufferable dictator Fidel Castro in Cuba, without condemning the regime's repression against Catholics, poverty, and persecution of dissidents.

That same year, the coca-growing communist accused of pedophilia Evo Morales gifted him a crucifix with a sickle and hammer, a blasphemous symbol that Pope Francis accepted without reproach, stating that "he did not take it as an offense." Unbelievable.

In January 2022, he received the former communist guerrilla of M-19 Gustavo Petro, presidential candidate of Colombia, in a gesture that seemed to support his progressive agenda, including the legalization of abortion. In February 2024, Pope Francis spoke with Claudia Sheinbaum, now president of Mexico, a declared atheist and leader of Morena, a socialist party. These meetings, from a New Right perspective, reflect complicity with poisonous ideologies that attack Christian values.

Pope Francis's environmentalism, articulated in Laudato Si (2015) and Laudate Deum (2023), also caused controversy. His call for an "ecological conversion" and his collaboration with the UN, whose Agenda 2030 promotes abortion and gender ideology, were criticized by bishops like Athanasius Schneider, who warned about the "secularization" of the Church.

Various voices lamented that the Pope paid attention to "globalist agendas" over the defense of life and family. Pope Francis's messages to the World Economic Forum in 2021 and 2022 fueled the perception of a Pope aligned with progressive elites.

The repression of traditionalists was another dark point. With Traditionis Custodes (2021), Pope Francis restricted the Tridentine Mass, a liturgy revered by millions. Monseñor Sandoval Íñiguez, in a 2024 letter, asked the Pope not to ban Latin masses, Saint Pius V, for its rich and pious liturgy.

This harshness contrasted with the tolerance toward progressive theologians like James Martin, who promotes the acceptance of homosexuality. The scrutiny over conservative orders, such as the Franciscans of the Immaculate, reinforced the image of a Pope opposed to orthodoxy.

The sexual abuse scandals added clouds to his legacy. The case of Theodore McCarrick, secularized in 2019, revealed that Pope Francis had known about the accusations in 2013, but did not act immediately. The McCarrick report (2020) exposed these failures.

Pope Francis's legacy is a field of certain tensions: mercy for sexual deviations, but grimaces at traditionalists; defense of the poor, but silence before anti-Christian dictatorships; and ideologized stances that sow confusion.

As I wrote in The New Right: the return of God to culture (2023), progressivism is an "ideological supremacism" that destroys the truth. Pope Francis allowed this ideology to enter the heart of the Church, leaving a wound that only a conservative Pope can heal.

The next conclave will be decisive: the Church needs a leader who, like John Paul II, is a counterbalance to the woke world and restores Christian values without breaking ecclesial communion.

The death of Pope Francis doesn't close these wounds, but exposes them. The faithful must raise their voices so that the truth prevails. In 2026, when commemorating the centenary of the Cristero War, the cry of "Long live Christ the King and Holy Mary of Guadalupe!" must sound strong as a mandate: the Truth is immutable.

The Church, besieged by a soulless progressive-globalism, requires a Pope who defends orthodoxy with the courage of a martyr. Only then will it survive as a torch of hope in a world that attacks our most sacred values.

Prayer and Action: Counterrevolution!