“Francis disappoints the most progressive”: the pope’s mixed results, ten years after his election

“The pope has always said very interesting things, but he has done nothing,” denounces Lucetta Scaraffia, who ran a magazine for women at the Vatican.

“If a person is gay, who am I to judge them?” Pope Francis immediately marked his difference when he was elected ten years ago, on March 13, 2013 in Rome. It was a change of era for the Church, which saw for the first time a non-European becoming pope, a Jesuit pope from the Americas. Ten years later, what do we remember? What reforms have really succeeded? Is Pope Francis a real reformer on social issues?

This pope from the other side of the world does not judge: he welcomes, advocates mercy. This is its trademark, according to the Vaticanist Antonio Pelayo, priest and adviser to the Spanish Embassy. “He has a different look: homosexuality is a reality, we cannot ignore that many men and women are homosexual, were born homosexual. Francis thinks that the Church cannot leave them outside, separated forever from the church.”

A pope who remains cautious about church reforms

For the theologian Philippe Bordeyne, president of the John Paul II Institute on the family in Rome, this reforming pope actually knows how to remain cautious, “with a more conservative part of the Church, which he does not want to see If Francis multiplies the openings, it does not follow afterwards: the dogma, the doctrine do not change and therefore Francis disappoints the most progressive”.

Historian Lucetta Scaraffia, who ran the Vatican’s first women’s magazine but threw in the towel four years ago, said: “I am very disappointed because the pope has always said very interesting things , which gave a lot of hope but he did nothing!”

“There have never been any concrete measures for women. I think this is a pope who has been very successful in building a progressive media image but without taking action.”

“In the end, there will never be a good pope for women. They will have to make a place for themselves in the church by demanding it or by imposing themselves as they have done in the rest of society”, advances the historian.

A progress all the same: ten years ago, less than 20% of the employees of the Vatican and the Holy See were women. It’s almost a quarter now, and the pope has appointed women to leadership positions for the first time. There will even be a number 1 in a ministry within two years, promised Pope Francis.