America’s real Catholic dissidents

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Jun 16, 2022

In an excellent Catholic Thing post, Stephen White observes that Pope Francis “seems to be operating on an idea of the Church in the United States which bears little resemblance to the reality of Catholic life in the US.”

The Pope and his key advisers have often spoken about the US in terms that suggest an unbalanced—at times even cartoonish—understanding of American affairs. This week, for instance, the Pope complained about the influence of the many “restorationist” groups in the American Catholic Church. As White points out, anyone who knows the American scene at all well realizes that these groups are few in number and in influence.

Meanwhile, the genuinely “restorationist” Catholics are dwarfed—in numbers and influence—by millions of other Catholics (many in positions of influence both in and outside of the Church) who reject the actual texts of the Council and the interpretation given it by Pope St. Paul VI, Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and depending on the issue, Pope Francis.

So should we conclude that Pope Francis is badly misinformed about the state of American Catholicism? Maybe. But in his penultimate paragraph, White asks a tougher question.