Francis at Five Years

Feminist scholars and others at an April 16 panel discussion spoke on Francis' attitude toward women. The consensus: Despite some positive developments in his papacy, Francis' issues with women continue to disappoint.

Francis at Five Years: Although Pope Francis remains popular, controversy about his pontificate is real, especially among inner-circle Catholics deeply invested in the church, said speakers at the April 3 event, sponsored by Notre Dame's Center for Social Concerns.

NCR Today: Trying to change leadership, tepid on women's issues, Pope Francis sometimes looks like someone who feels he has gone as far as he can and is discouraged from continuing to push for change. The resistance is winning.

In a conversation framed around the book A Pope Francis Lexicon, Catholic commentators gathered to discuss his pontificate on the fifth anniversary of his election.

Francis at Five Years: Bringing a background in literary themes and devices with him to the papacy five years ago, Pope Francis has shown himself to be a master of metaphor and allegory.

In the five years since his election, Francis has implemented in the church a dynamic, well-considered transformation process, based on the principles of the Second Vatican Council.

Pope's quotes: In his formal documents, many speeches and unscripted morning homilies the past five years, Pope Francis has given the church plenty of "food for thought" on many issues of great importance.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI defended the continuity of the church's teaching under his successor and dismissed those who criticize the pope's theological foundations.

Francis at Five Years: Over the five years since his March 2013 election, as the first pope of the global south, Francis has left the world in little doubt where his church stands on key contemporary issues.

Pope Francis has had a profound impact on the work we do at Catholic University. It's entirely consonant with the thought of his predecessor. But like the second movement of a Mozart symphony, it's a different key and tempo from the first.

Francis at Five Years: Five years ago, we moved from one style of church to another. Gone were the images of finger-waving popes, stories of theological investigations, and the public scoldings and excommunications of people who dared to question the ongoing value of old ways.

Distinctly Catholic: Whatever is going on in conservative circles, if you had been at Seton Hall for Richard Trumka's talk, you would have seen how working-class folk feel about the pope.

Five years after Pope Francis ascended to the papacy, a survey of U.S. Catholics reports the pontiff has a high favorability rating — but his popularity is waning among political conservatives.

Ross Douthat and Massimo Faggioli usually keep their debates about Pope Francis confined to cyberspace, but Jan. 31, they took their arguments person-to-person at Fordham University for a crowd of about 300.