In the days since Pope Francis died, I have seen a number of Protestants write about his legacy. Some of these writers have expressed great appreciation for him while others have expressed great concern. The reactions to these articles, and especially the critiques, have been interesting to me. Some people have expressed dismay that their fellow Protestants would use the opportunity of the pope’s death to detail their concerns about the man and his office and even to discuss his eternal state.
Though I know it can seem unkind to use a person’s death as an opportunity to write about his flaws, it’s important to remember some key facts about Pope Francis, the papacy, and the Roman Catholic Church.
This is one of those key facts: For as long as he was pope, Francis was the world’s most prominent false teacher. Though there are many other false teachers in this world, none of them had even a fraction of his reach or power and none were regarded with such respect.
Throughout Francis’ life, he consistently affirmed the errors of Catholic doctrine that are detailed in its official documents (such as the Catechism of the Catholic Church) while adding new errors of his own. Never in his life did he proclaim a gospel through which sinners are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and never did he expect it of the millions of clergy he oversaw. Rather, he consistently preached a gospel in which human effort must be added to divine grace. Furthermore, he consistently venerated Mary as one who, with Jesus, co-mediates the relationship between God and man.1 He dispensed countless indulgences which are said to lessen or remove the torment a believer must face in purgatory—punishment he must endure in order to become sufficiently holy to enter heaven.2
In short, Francis dedicated his entire life to laboring within the world’s largest heretical denomination—one that has more than a billion adherents. He was Supreme Pontiff of it for his final 12. He spent 67 of his years in the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), an order created for the specific purpose of countering and eradicating the teachings of Protestantism.3 During his time as pope, he communicated heretical doctrines to more people than any other human being. No healer, no crusader, no preacher, and no teacher came close.
We could go further. The papacy is the foremost and most consistent position of false teaching in the history of the world. For centuries, the pope has been using the name of Christ to lead people away from Christ. He has promised heaven while delivering hell. Countless Roman Catholics have gone to damnation after being assured by their church and their pope that they were on the path to salvation. The papacy has consistently proclaimed a gospel that cannot save while formally anathematizing the one gospel that actually can! I joyfully admit that there can be true believers within the Roman Catholic Church, but they are believers in spite of the church’s official doctrine, not because of it.
The papacy has consistently proclaimed a gospel that cannot save while formally anathematizing the one gospel that actually can!
So when we set Pope Francis in this context, it makes sense that there is a sense of relief that he is gone. We will shed no tears when the President of the Mormon Church dies and can no longer bring leadership to an institution that is leading so many millions astray and can no longer bring false prophecies in the name of Jesus. We will shed no tears when Kenneth Copeland dies and stops speaking lies and enriching himself in the name of Jesus. And neither is there reason to lament the death of Pope Francis as if he was a brother, a good man, or anything other than one who led people to darkness in the name of light. Of course, we can lament the reality of death. We can grieve and tremble at the reality that he must now face divine judgment. But we need not pretend he was one who knew God or was loved by God. In that way, his death is an appropriate moment to remind ourselves of the reality Protestants had universally agreed upon until the past few decades—that the Roman Catholic Church denies the gospel and is therefore not a true church.
Though it is tragic that only death could silence Francis, is it not good that death has silenced him? For with his death, the world’s most prominent and most respected false teacher is no longer teaching his heretical doctrines and no longer leading people astray.
- See Leonardo De Chirico and “Was Pope Francis a Gospel Man?” ↩︎
- See “How To Obtain a Plenary Indulgence in 2025” ↩︎
- The headquarters for the Jesuit order is Chiesa del Gesù where you can still see a sculpture that portrays the church destroying Protestants and throwing them into hell. You can also venerate the mummified arm of St. Francis Xavier as, indeed, so many do when they visit. ↩︎
