Millions of conservatives are furious at the increasingly liberal views of Pope Francis.
He has even gone so far as to attack President Trump in the past.
But a massive scandal just broke that could take down Pope Francis for good.
Pope Francis is facing harsh criticism on many fronts.
From conservatives, they are upset that he is shifting radically to the left on pro-life, pro-family, and environmental issues.
He already has them on the fence about their confidence in his position, while liberals look to him as a hero.
But now there are new scandals dropping that are indefensible, even by those on the left.
For years, the Catholic Church has been rocked with child sexual abuse scandals perpetrated by priests within the Church.
Pope Francis is trying to take command of the situation, and prove that he can be a leader through these difficult times.
He is summoning Church leaders for a summit next month to chart a course forward, and figure out how to better handle cases of sexual abuse.
But before the summit can even start, Pope Francis is getting rocked with a scandal implicating him in the problem.
In August of 2017, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta of the Argentine diocese.
His resignation comes on the heel of numerous complaints relating to sexual harassment of adult seminarians and other alleged inappropriate behavior.
The Vatican claims they were made aware of the complaints a short while before his resignation.
But now Zanchetta’s former vicar, Rev. Juan Jose Manzano, is disputing the timeline the Vatican is claiming.
Manzano, speaking to the Associated Press, claims the Vatican received information in both 2015 and 2017 that Zanchetta had taken naked pictures of himself, exhibited obscene behavior, and had been accused of sexual misconduct.
Following the 2015 complaint, Zanchetta was summoned to Rome by Pope Francis.
Upon his return, Manzano claims he was “improved, to the point that no one even investigated how those photos got to Rome.”
This undermines the claims from the Vatican, and puts Pope Francis’ commitment to stopping sexual misconduct in the church into question.
Making things more troubling is the relationship between Pope Francis and Zanchetta.
Zanchetta was Pope Francis’ first Argentine Bishop appointed after becoming Pope in 2013.
That isn’t much of a surprise considering how close the two are, with some going so far as to call Zanchetta the protégé of Pope Francis.
Many are questioning if that relationship has a role in the lack of action.
This question becomes more relevant considering that Pope Francis quickly brought Zanchetta back into a church position, as an assessor in a key administrative department which manages the Holy See’s real estate and financial holdings.
It is unclear if this scandal will continue on, or fizzle away.
Manzano doesn’t blame Pope Francis for the situation, instead calling him a victim of Zanchetta’s “manipulation.”
But regardless, this isn’t the situation Pope Francis was hoping to be involved in going into a summit on sexual abuse.
Do you think Pope Francis is failing as a Pope?
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