When Pope Francis was first elected many, in both the camps of the faithful and the unbelievers, felt a sensation of adoration towards the new pontiff, and a surge of euphoria at the thought of a liberalised, modernised Catholic Church, a Church that would seek to genuinely serve the poor, giving them food not signs and wonders, a Church that would preach acceptance for those of us who may be differently inclined in matters of sex and gender, an institution which could learn to see the spaces in-between the pitch and the parchment, approaching morally difficult areas with a gentle hand and embracing contemporary attitudes towards the role of women in society. I will confess not to have been among that number, and have a slight sense of vindication because of it. Needless to say, no waves of innovative and revolutionary thought rocked the Church, the Vicar of Christ has a good P.R. department, and many still follow the train of thought that views him as a ‘liberal’ pope, even adding the condescending moniker of a ‘third world pope’, Bergoglio has done none of these things, and the man is not so much a redeemer of the Church as a 21st century Pius IX. A figure who offers clichés to modernisers with his left hand and fuels fanaticism with his right, a hypocrite, a fraud, and a man completely worthy of the corrupt, odious post which he now holds.

It would take someone of immense moral decrepitude, as well as historical ignorance, to defend Cardinal Ratzinger, a sinister and nefarious conspirator against the rights of children and the process of justice when applied to the sadistic rapists who occupy his beloved Church, whom he protected with vigour and a disturbing commitment to covering the entire filthy affair up as much as he conceivably could. Francis has not yet reached the exceptionally low standard established by his predecessor, but that says nothing in his defence, when attempting to fortify the reputation of a friend I would hardly feel the need to add ‘Well, he hasn’t run over anyone today’, the absence of the most heinous crimes does not forgive lesser evils. There is no point in attempting to list the triangulations and manipulations of the pope, some of which are admittedly more rooted in ignorance and bloody-mindedness than open depravity, but a few are worthy of a dishonourable mention. In the July of 2013, during a return flight from Brazil, his holiness stated in response to a question concerning if there was a ‘gay lobby’ in the Vatican “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?” a remarkably lucid statement for a man of holy orders, however, he has done nothing to change the official stance that the Church takes on homosexuality, one of cruel and thoughtless bigotry, and there is absolutely no indication that this will change under the current pontificate, referring to same sex marriage, or as I like to call it ‘marriage’, as “a destructive attack on gods plan” sounds pretty fucking judgemental to me.

Next we come to a case of staggering duplicity, the Pope’s apparent leniency, as if it was required, towards transgender people. In early 2015 Diego Neria Lejarrage, a Spanish trans man who was informed by the leader of his local parish that he is “the devils daughter” wrote to the Pope and managed to secure an audience, having been told over the phone that “You are a son of God and the Church loves you and accepts you as you are.” Upon meeting the pope and asking whether there was a place in the ‘house of God’ for him the man was embraced by the pope, an act that would normally deserve praise and recognition, an expression of kindness and humility that made a glorious crack in a centuries old barricade of oppression, bigotry, and cruelty. Once again, a gesture with enormous potential for triggering change within the ancient institution was repudiated, less than a month later he compared transgender people to nuclear weaponry, an exercise in both remarkable stupidity and extraordinary bad taste.

To close the charges against Francis, I will simply mention, with commentary but without embellishment, that he has refused to alter Church dogma on the issues of contraception condemning millions to a life cut short by the pointless brutality of the AIDS virus as well as resource scarcity resulting from over population, he has not budged by an inch on abortion or euthanasia, going so far as to threaten refusal of communion to those who support these practices, and he has maintained the official stance set by his predecessors on stem cell research, the development of which could lead to highly effective treatments and easily plausible cures for many horrific ailments that beset his genetic comrades who are forced to linger in needless suffering and misery. In disappointment and summation, I conclude with the statement that the Catholic Church remains as ugly and totalitarian as ever, and will do so for the rest of this Pope’s reign, despite how much many of us which we could say otherwise.

Signed,

Dagenham,