What Did Pope Francis Do for American Catholics?

Washington Watch

April 28th, 2025

Dr. James J. Zogby ©

President

Arab American Institute

For American Catholics, Pope Francis was elected to lead the Roman Catholic Church at a time of crisis for both the institution and the faithful. The church in the United States was reeling from the aftershocks of continuing exposés of widespread sexual abuse by priests and the growing rift separating the church’s leadership from significant portions of younger Catholics. Many of these younger Catholics had become disenchanted with, or in some cases hostile to, the institution that they saw as ossified, out of touch, and irrelevant to their lives.  

The American Catholic Church had long been an ethnic immigrant church. As waves of millions of immigrants from largely Catholic European countries came to America, they settled in neighborhoods and brought their cultures and religion with them. They built churches and schools that served to solidify and advance their communities and preserve their traditions.  

Over time, as these communities grew and prospered, their children assimilated into American life, married, and moved to ethnically and religiously diverse suburban neighborhoods. The impact this had on the church was profound. What had been a mosaic of Italian, Irish, Polish, etc. Catholic Churches, melded into an American Catholic Church. The ties that bound them together as a single faith community remained but were less potent than they had been in the old homogeneous ethnic communities from which they had emerged. Intermarriage became more common as did a loosening of the hold the church had over belief and practice.  

Catholics, like all Americans, were transformed by the political, social, and cultural upheavals that rocked the US in the 1960s and 1970s. Americans divided over issues of race, the war in Vietnam, and the sexual revolution. Some became more liberal, others more conservative. A poll in the 1950s found that a strong majority of Americans said they would strongly disapprove of their children marrying someone from a different religion. Fifty years later, that no longer bothered them. What would trouble them, they said, was their children marrying someone of different political party.  

While the Catholic faithful divided, the bishops, with a few exceptions, did not. If anything, they became more conservative, finding refuge in an increasingly narrow focus on sexual matters: abortion, birth control, divorce, and homosexuality. Some still spoke about war, racism, labor rights, or poverty. And they issued declarations on these matters. But it was matters of sex, and specifically abortion, that trumped all else.  

Then came the bomb.  

There had long been rumors of various priests sexually abusing youngsters over whom they had authority. But no one was prepared for the shock that would follow when in 2002 the Diocese of Boston released a report detailing the magnitude of the problem. There were hundreds of offending clergy and thousands of victims spanning decades of abuse. It shook the church to its core.  

My brother was commissioned by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops to poll the attitudes of American Catholics toward this scandal. The reactions were predictable. There was anger and disgust. While the bishops pledged to address the concerns of their followers, it became clear that they were more interested in protecting their institution than in rooting out the problem. This only caused more disenchantment. The problem only grew as other dioceses and states released equally damning reports.   

The drain on the faithful became more evident. Church attendance and contributions were down. Being “Catholic” came to be seen as more as a demographic identifier that distinguished the descendants of the earlier waves of European immigrants from other “religious” groupings than as believers in the church and its teachings.  

Almost tone deaf to the crisis they were facing, the bishops doubled down on abortion and other sexual matters, making these litmus tests for the faithful. And they came to see the church’s future in the waves of newer immigrants to the US from Latin America and Africa who appeared to be more traditionally minded. After the bishops made their preference clear for Republican candidates for president in 2008 and 2012, a few prominent Catholic politicians wrote a letter to the bishops reminding them that the bishops’ statement on policy concerns included 25 issues. They said: “We agree with you on 24 of these and disagree on one (abortion). And yet you show preference for candidates who agree with you on just one issue and disagree with you on the other 24.”   

It was into this divided church that Francis became pope in 2013. His impact was profound, and yet subtle. He never directly challenged the conservative positions on abortion, homosexuality, or women’s role in the church. And yet he made an immediate impact with gestures that spoke of a kinder, gentler approach to the faithful. He displayed humility, foregoing ostentatious papal trappings. He washed the feet of prisoners and visited with refugees to display his respect and compassion. He met with victims of priestly abuse to ask for forgiveness. And had audiences with gay Catholics to demonstrate acceptance. Tabooed topics became matters to be discussed, and he made clear that those who had been shunned by traditionalists were to be treated with respect.   

His gestures spoke volumes. For Arabs, four of these stand out. We will never forget how on his visit to Bethlehem he stopped his motorcade and walked to Israel’s notorious wall and putting his head to the concrete barrier he prayed and said, “We need bridges, not walls.” Or how this past Christmas he prayed in front of the manger scene that featured the baby Jesus lying on a Palestinian keffiyeh. Or how for the past year he would nightly place a FaceTime call to the Palestinian Christian church in Gaza to speak with Gaza’s suffering people. And finally, his historic and deeply moving meeting with Sheikh al Azhar in the UAE and the declaration that they cosigned promoting understanding and mutual respect between Muslims and Catholics.  

His gestures outraged conservatives who sought to undermine him at every turn. Because they were gestures, some liberals were left dissatisfied that he didn’t move to change church teachings and practice. In a real sense, the Catholic Church he leaves is as divided as it was when he began his papacy. But his legacy is that for more than a decade he brought hope and compassion, respect and an invitation to dialogue. It may not be enough to save the Catholic Church in America, but if his example is followed, it may light the way forward.