Pope Francis Against Himself - POLITICO

…If Francis had actually revitalized those well-begun church reforms — equality for women and men, an empowered laity, a sacramental ministry of service instead of domination — he would have emerged as what the world most needs right now, a prophet of democratic commonwealth. Think of it: more than a billion Catholics, crossing every boundary on the planet, fully enlisted at last — by virtue of the renewed structures of their own institution — in the struggle for human equality, enshrined in self-government. Rooted less in a modern dream of democratic liberalism than in the spirit of radical solidarity first seen in Jesus Christ, this would be a religious retrieval more than a political revolution. Instead, the Catholic Church, in its die-hard shoring up of clerical power, is stuck on the wrong side of the 21st century's great moral demand…

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/06/26/pope-francis-catholic-church-00041378