Five myths about Catholics

Candida Moss is the Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology at the University of Birmingham in England.

For the second time in its history, the United States has a Catholic president. The 2020 election season was distinctive for the ways Joe Biden’s Catholic credentials were challenged by his opponents even as they were highlighted by his own campaign. Though there have always been misconceptions about the beliefs of Roman Catholics - the second-largest religious group in the country - the last year has underscored the considerable confusion about what the Catholic Church teaches and what it means to be Catholic.

Myth No. 1: Celibacy and homosexuality caused the pedophilia scandal.

For the last two decades, the biggest scandal in the Catholic Church has been the child sex abuse crisis. In explaining the genesis of the abuse, a number of Catholic leaders and organizations have claimed that it was caused by the presence of gay priests among the clergy. In 2002, Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez, a top Vatican official, argued in a public letter that ordaining gay men would be “absolutely inadvisable and imprudent, and from the pastoral point of view, very risky.” A statement by Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi to the United Nations in 2009 sought to recategorize the child abuse as “a homosexual attraction to adolescent males.” Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, claimed in an op-ed in The Washington Post in 2010 that the pedophilia crisis was “a homosexual crisis all along.”

Others have traced the problem to the church’s insistence on celibacy. A 2019 op-ed for the National Catholic Reporter suggested that celibacy creates a culture of secrecy and lies that protects pedophiles as well as sexually active priests. And a number of letters to the NCR have said that sex abuse among the clergy will end when celibacy does.

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But sexual orientation, sexual abstinence and child abuse are in no way linked to one another. An independent study overseen by Margaret Smith at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice found no connection “between homosexual identity and an increased likelihood of sexual abuse.” In her report to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Smith said: “We have not found that the problem [of sexual abuse of minors] is particular to the church. We have found it to be similar to the problem in society.” Writing in Psychology Today, Thomas Plante, a psychiatry professor, cited further evidence that celibacy “doesn’t increase the risk of child sexual abuse.” At the risk of pointing out the obvious, if priests want to break their vows of celibacy, there are many consenting adults with whom to do so.

Myth No. 2: Biden isn’t a real Catholic.

Former president Donald Trump said that Biden “hurt the Bible. Hurt God. He’s against God.” In a widely reported homily in November, Father Jim Gigliotti, a Fort Worth, Texas priest, called Biden “not a good Catholic at all.” The Jesuit magazine America reported that some Catholic religious leaders told their parishioners that a vote for Biden was “a mortal sin.” Last August, Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, R.I., went even further when he disparaged Biden’s faith by tweeting: “Biden-Harris. First time in awhile that the Democratic ticket hasn’t had a Catholic on it. Sad.”

While there might be disagreement about whether Biden is a “good” Catholic, there can be no doubt that he is, in fact, authentically Catholic. People become members of the Catholic Church through the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist. Biden is a baptized and confirmed Catholic whose campaign website includes the statement: “I’m a practicing Catholic.” While his position on abortion is not in keeping with the teachings of the church, this does not change the fact of his religious identity.

Myth No. 3: Catholics believe the pope is infallible.

Only 60 years ago, Catholic politicians had to prove their ability to act independently from the Vatican. In September 1960, John F. Kennedy appeared before a gathering of hundreds of Protestant clergy members to explain that, if elected president, he would neither request nor accept “instructions on public policy from the pope.” The misconception that he would do just that stems from the myth that papal infallibility means Catholics must always obey the pope. A New York Times profile of Benedict XVI reported that as a young man, the future pope, Joseph Ratzinger, believed in “unquestioned obedience to the authority of Rome.” Introducing a segment on NPR’s “All Things Considered” in 2015, host Rachel Martin noted that “in the past, many Catholics believed that the Pope spoke with the voice of God and they were reluctant to question him.”

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But the pope is infallible only when he speaks “ex cathedra” (“from the chair” of Saint Peter). In 1993, John Paul II explained that infallibility is not conferred on the pope “as a private person” but applies only when he speaks “in a doctrinal field limited to the truths of the faith and morals.” Thus, unless the pope specifically invokes papal authority in this way, his pronouncements are serious but not incontestable. The last time a pope issued an ex cathedra decree was in 1950, when Pius XII made the assumption of Mary into heaven an article of faith. Even in this case, however, the statement came after thorough consultation with bishops throughout the world.

Myth No. 4: The Catholic Church is anti-science.

A 2009 survey on religion and science by the Pew Research Center found that 53 percent of Catholics think science and religion are often in conflict. A 2011 article published in Social Science Quarterly showed that religious Americans are less likely to be well-informed about science than their nonreligious peers. Among Catholics in particular, the article said, “scientific proficiency does not match their educational position.” Sharp disagreements on issues like stem cell research and contraception, coupled with the well-known mistreatment of the astronomer Galileo, have led to the idea that the Catholic Church rejects science entirely. In 2015, for example, Rick Santorum said that Pope Francis should “leave science to the scientists” because “the church has gotten it wrong a few times.”

The origins of this myth may lie in the 1870s, when scientist John William Draper and educator Andrew Dickson White popularized the view that the Catholic Church - unlike Islam and Protestantism - is anti-intellectual. The truth is that the Catechism, the official manual of Catholic teaching, states that faith and reason are complementary, mutually enriching pursuits. Both Pope Francis and Benedict XVI have called for efforts to arrest climate change, the Vatican regularly holds conferences on adult stem cell research, and popes have accepted the basic compatibility of evolution and Catholic teaching since the 1950s. The Vatican even has its own astronomical observatory.

Myth No. 5: Pope Francis is a liberal.

Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment, his statements that atheists can go to heaven, his offer of forgiveness to women who have had abortions and his apparent indifference to homosexuality have led many to view him as a liberal. In November 2013, the Guardian proclaimed Francis the “obvious new hero of the left,” and the next month Rush Limbaugh called the pope’s thoughts on economics “pure Marxism.” On several occasions, Catholic cardinals like Raymond Burke have publicly reprimanded Francis for his statements, with Burke telling a French news crew that he would “resist” liberal changes.

Within the church, as The Washington Post has reported, opposition to Francis comes largely from social conservatives. This would seem to confirm the broader public perception of the pope as a liberal. There are many subjects, however, on which he is quite traditional. Francis disappointed liberal supporters when he refused to allow the ordination of married men, and, in keeping with church teaching, he remains staunchly opposed to abortion. As the National Catholic Reporter has put it, there are “two Pope Francises.” While Francis has a more pastoral tone than his predecessor and has opposed politically conservative American policies (he called Trump’s actions on immigration “cruel”), he frustrates political labels. The pope’s interest in the vulnerable includes unborn children, the socioeconomically disadvantaged, the sick and disabled, and immigrants.

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