The Pope in Philadelphia

On September 26 Pope Francis will visit Philadelphia to host the World Meeting of Families, an intercultural celebration of family life that takes place every three years in a different international venue. Pope Francis’ visit comes in the midst of significant policy in the Roman Catholic Church, including the fast-tracking of the marriage annulment process and the ability for priests to independently “forgive the sin of abortion.” Associate Professor of Sociology Melissa Wilde, papal scholar and author of Vatican II: A Sociological Analysis of Religious Change, says it’s no coincidence that the annulment decision coincides with the Pope visiting America.

“The Catholic Church is concerned about the state of the family, and one of the biggest threats they see is divorce. This is particularly a concern for American Catholics, because American Catholics are still under the impression that divorce is a much graver sin than Catholics in other parts of the world, because remarriage in the States was punishable by excommunication from 1884-1977,” says Wilde. “After Vatican II (the large-scale liberalization and modernization of practices in the church resulting from an ecumenical council held from 1962 to 1965), the ground under which annulments could be granted were dramatically widened, and the Church went from giving about 400 annulments a year in the entire world, to 40,000 a year in the U.S. alone by 1975. So certainly the annulment decision was American-focused—making it easier for people to return to the good graces of the Church.”

On the topic of abortion, Wilde says it’s a similar dynamic—that the Pope is revising policy so that it is more in line with the modern realities of society. “The Pope has done a lot to say, let’s stop insisting on this moral authority that’s negative in relationship to abortion,” says Wilde. “It’s similar to what Obama said about abortion, that we might not be able to agree on whether it should be legal, but we can agree that it would be great if we had less of them.”

And while the Church has taken steps to reform its policies on annulments and abortion, there remains one glaring family issue they have not revisited: birth control. “98 percent of practicing American Catholics have stated they’ve used artificial means of birth control in their lives, so it’s the least adhered to doctrine in the Catholic Church,” says Wilde. “Francis’ take generally seems to be, let’s look at what people are actually doing and believing, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he took the issue on some time in the future. But it may be the kind of thing that he recognizes really needs to come from a council to be authoritative.”

When it comes to the sweeping policy changes another council could bring, the Pope does have veto power, but he would likely hesitate to use it to oppose any council-based decisions. “A pope can speak with the infallible authority of God, but it is very rare because it basically means they cannot be wrong, and practices change—theology changes.”

Though the progressive policy changes cause dissent in some conservative branches of Catholicism, Wilde says any backlash has been muted. “There doesn’t seem to be a very public dismissal, or criticism, of him. I think part of it is that traditional Catholics love their Pope,” says Wilde. “It’s not like they’re looking at someone who was elected by the average citizen. To them this is God’s appointee on Earth.”