Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's death deprives conservative prelates of a symbolic figurehead but is unlikely to weaken their collective power or end the culture wars that have divided the USCCB, according to Catholic academics and clergy.
Pope of the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013NEW YORK — Many of the conservative prelates who dominate the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops were appointed by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Hisdeprives them of a symbolic figurehead but is unlikely to weaken their collective power or end the culture wars that have divided the USCCB, according to Catholic academics and clergy.
“The Francis-style bishops are not as numerous nor as well-organized,” Gibson added. “But they are also contending with well-organized conservative Catholic activists who can make their jobs exceedingly difficult if those bishops are perceived as being too focused on social justice or other teachings perceived as ‘progressive.'”
“It is a fact that whenever there’s an election , the more conservative side always wins,” he said in a telephone interview. The divisions within the USCCB are so pronounced that they were highlighted in a statement from Timothy Broglio, the Archbishop of the Military Services, USA, after“We have a responsibility to cultivate that unity, which does not mean that we are carbon copies of one another or always have the same approaches to a problem.” he said. “It does mean that, if we disagree, we first speak among ourselves. We are not obliged to imitate the society around us by contributing to diatribes about others.
Stowe was subsequently asked by the Jesuit magazine America what he saw ahead for the USCCB during Broglio’s three-year term.
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