Just after the one-time Catholic Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was elected Pope Francis in 2013, he made an infamous lament over dinner with the cardinals who had just voted for him. “May God forgive you for what you’ve done,” he said.
Now, more than a decade later, an increasing number of church leaders openly agree with that sentiment, loudly bemoaning the direction taken by the first pontiff to be born in the Americas.
There have been multiple schisms over the 2,000-year history of the Roman Catholic Church, though the biggest ruptures the church has seen are buried deep in the history books. But for the first time in recent memory, the “s-word” is being dusted off and bandied in some circles.
The trend is being fueled by a series of progressive reforms in church doctrine Francis has promoted. Among the most contentious: changes to the way the church treats homosexuals, transgender people, women, and divorcees.