21 April 2025, 21:58 | Updated: 21 April 2025, 22:03

By Gavin Ashenden

There have been 266 popes since Jesus founded the Catholic Church when he appointed Saint Peter.

Pope Francis, the 266th may well have been one of the most controversial popes in the whole of Catholic history.

There have been some very low spots , particularly infamous & controversial were the Borgias in the 16th century. But Francis has caused controversy for more complex reasons.

His particular style may have been set when he told Catholic youth at a festival in 2013 that he wanted them to go and make a mess.

This might be an exciting commission from a youth leader wanting to get done with the kids but the consequences of applying it to the world’s oldest organisation with 1.4 billion members proved to be more difficult.

On the whole, people are very good at making their own mess. Conventionally, the job of the church has been to tidy up mess to bring order coherence and structure........

© LBC