In Battle Over Liturgy, Pope Francis Detects the ‘Odor of the Devil’

While the pope would like to move beyond the contretemps over how Catholics worship, history suggests there is not a prayer of that happening.

Pope Francis at the Vatican May 5, 2022. AP/Alessandra Tarantino

Pope Francis, in a sharply-worded statement, blamed those who would retain the traditional liturgy of the church as carrying “the devil’s odor,” pulling back the curtain on divisions among the Catholic faithful that persist nearly a decade into Francis’s papacy. He made those comments on Saturday at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute.  

The condemnation was yet another indication of conflict between the Vicar of Christ and conservative elements in the church who look toward the nonagenarian pope emeritus, Benedict, as a pontiff more aligned with their vision of the One True Church.    

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