Slow to Anger

A few years ago I wrote a column titled “Be Angry,” in which I defended anger as a legitimate response to the many scandalous actions of Pope Francis. The proximate cause of the article was the appointment of then-Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández as head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith as well as some problematic papal selections for the Synod on Synodality, but those acts were just the latest in a string of scandals during the Francis pontificate. While I knew I was in danger of falling into the “angry trad” stereotype, I simply couldn’t pretend the last pontificate didn’t justify righteous anger.

I still think my anger was justified. Frankly, I’m still angry at the Francis pontificate: it was a disastrous reign that led many souls astray. Francis was akin to an abusive father, who attacked those most faithful to the Catholic religion. It’s understandable and reasonable for a child to be angry at a father who abuses him. As I wrote a few months after my “Be Angry” article, Francis had lost the benefit of the doubt. I also wrote that of course “we cannot let anger rule and control our hearts. Yes, be angry, but make sure it is a righteous anger.” Anger is a dangerous emotion, but it’s not always inappropriate.

Now we have a new Supreme Pontiff in Pope Leo XIV, and a lot of Catholics are starting to get angry with him, particularly after last week. And as weeks go, Leo did have a bad one. First, he seemed to suggest that Catholics who accept the perennial teaching of the Church regarding the permissibility of the death penalty were not “pro-life.” Then, he essentially endorsed Cardinal Cupich’s evil plan to give a lifetime achievement award to a pro-abortion Catholic politician. Finally, the pope presided over a weird environmental gathering in which he blessed a large block of ice. These actions produced many denunciations and much anger in Catholicland. Beyond last week’s actions, some Catholics are already assuming the worst regarding the pope’s first apostolic exhortation, due to be released on October 9, on the subject of the poor and social justice. 

Although Leo clearly had some missteps last week (and will continue to have them in the future), I’m not angry and I don’t think other Catholics should be, either. Does this mean I’ve changed my attitude about anger since my previous column? Perhaps a bit, but moreso I believe the situations are not the same. 

My columns on being angry and on Francis’ loss of the benefit of the doubt were published in 2023, a full ten years after Jorge Bergoglio’s election. He had a long history of undermining the faith and attacking the faithful. The catalog of problematic papal acts was large and growing. The potential for justified anger, in other words, had been perculating over a long period of time.

St. James in his epistle writes, “Know this, my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20, emphasis added). While justified and righteous at times, anger—particularly toward a pope—should not be the default reaction for a Catholic; it should be something that occurs only in extreme situations, and after serious contemplation and consideration. In the case of Pope Francis in 2023, even one who was very slow to anger realized that anger was justified. Pope Leo, on the other hand, has been Supreme Pontiff for only five months; being angry at him already is the definition of “quick to anger.”

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying one cannot be critical of certain words and acts of our Holy Father. But there’s a difference between careful, calm criticism and anger.

Why are people so quick to be angry at our new pope? Surely the society in which we live in party to blame. It promotes and platforms anger like never before. Social media in particular is fueled by anger: the algorithm rewards anger, so that’s what fills our timelines and influences our emotions. 

Yet I don’t think that’s the main driver behind today’s anger at the new pope. I think it’s a hangover effect from Pope Francis. For twelve years the Catholic faithful endured a pope who was, as I’ve said, an abusive father; a man who palpably despised us and what we believe. Now we suddenly have a new father, and so all the emotional baggage from the last father, which is difficult to jettison, is transferred onto him. Any mistake Leo makes brings us back to our feelings toward Francis and projects those feelings onto Leo. This, however, is unfair and uncharitable toward our new Holy Father, and it violates the biblical command to be “slow to anger.”

I have no idea how the Leo pontificate will unfold, and it’s possible we’ll reach the point where it’s clearly justified to be angry at him. Yet Leo is not Francis. There’s no indication that he hates us or hates the traditions of the Church. To look for reasons to be angry with him is, first of all, counterproductive in addressing the crisis in the Church today, for it hides our legitimate criticisms behind a flurry of emotional outbursts. It’s also spiritually destructive to the soul who engages in unnecessary anger. What does it profit a man to fight for the Church and forfeit his soul?

We can lament papal mistakes, and we can urge the pope and other Church officials to more fully embrace the traditional faith as handed on to us, but let’s take a step back, remain calm in our criticisms, and carry on in the faith. Let’s follow the advice of St. James, to be “slow to anger, for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God.”