• ESPAÑOL: ¿Está surgiendo una posible división en la Iglesia Católica Romana?

There have been two major schisms in the Roman Catholic Church. The first took place in 1054 AD, when two groups split forming what would become the Orthodox and Catholic churches. The split was primarily over what patriarch controlled the church and the use of icons.

The second occurred in 1517 after Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of his church in Wittenberg, Germany calling for reform of the Catholic Church because of its rampant corruption. The church’s rejection of these changes led to the formation of the protest or protestant church.

Now there is talk of a third major schism or division due to the recent attempts by Pope Francis to liberalize the Roman Catholic Church, WND reports.

In addition to moving the church away from its traditional views including allowing priests to bless same-sex unions, Pope Francis has also been removing or sanctioning Conservative Bishops who oppose his progressive changes. This included Joseph Strickland, a popular Texas bishop.

According to an article by Eric Lyman in Just the News, these moves have sparked discussions of a third schism, by the large conservative faction within the Catholic Church.

“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,” Lyman writes.

On Feb. 19, 2024, 90 leading conservative thinkers in the Roman Catholic Church, including several in the US, published an open letter to the church’s Cardinals and Bishop calling on Pope Francis to rescind his blessing of same-sex marriages.

At a dinner with the cardinals who had just elected him as pope, Francis may have even hinted at his future plans and even a potential split when he said, “May God forgive you for what you’ve done.”

With Pope Francis now experiencing ill health, Lyman says that any potential schism would probably take place at the election of the next pope. According to reports, Pope Francis has aggressively stacked the cardinal electors who chose the pope with liberal-minded men to ensure his agenda continues.

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