As pope turns 79, conservative backlash mounts

[rug]

December 17, 2015, 9:29 AM

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis entered his 80th year on Thursday amid hopes among his critics that it will be his last -- at least as pope.

While Francis remains enormously popular among most rank-and-file Catholics, a small but vocal group of conservatives who have never much cared for his radical agenda have grown increasingly strident in criticizing the pope now that there is little doubt left about his priorities.

They have taken aim at the just-concluded synod on family issues, where the divisive issue of Communion for the civilly remarried took center stage. They have raised alarm at Francis' call for a more decentralized church and his loosening of the Vatican's marriage annulment process. They have winced at his environmental alarmism, wondered what's in store for Catholic orthodoxy in this Holy Year of Mercy and blasted as sacrilege the recent screening of nature shots on St. Peter's Basilica.

The Remnant, a small, traditionalist U.S. newspaper, last week penned an open letter begging Francis to change course or resign, arguing that his papacy was "causing grave harm to the church." Organizers say a few thousand people have signed onto the petition.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-francis-79th-birthday-opposition-catholic-conservatives-reform/

Ad multos annos vivas and watch your back.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

1. These are the people who, during the reign of JPII, were damning us liberals

For disagreeing with the pope, saying that no true Catholic would do such a thing. Yet here they are, doing exactly what they told us not to. Schadenfreude is not a very Christian feeling, but it can be quite satisfying.

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2. And they got worse when Benedict was elected.