Trust in the Church has been ‘destroyed’ for many in recent years

The Church is suffering from a widespread and devastating lack of trust, largely due to the pontificate of Pope Francis, whose reign saw departures from Catholic teaching on marriage, the nature of the Church, and the role of the Church in salvation. Such is the assessment of Monsignor Martin Grichting, an esteemed professor of canon law, the emeritus Vicar General of the Diocese of Chur and a former consulter for the Congregation for the Clergy in the Vatican. “This trust has been shaken in the Church; for many, it has been destroyed,” he writes. {Grichting’s analysis first appeared in InfoVaticana, but the official English translation is published here with Mgr. Grichting’s permission. The full text is below.} Grichting points to key moments such as Amoris Laetitia, Fiducia Supplicans, the Abu Dhabi Declaration, and the Synod on Synodality as contributing to the crisis he refers to: Pope Francis has turned the indissolubility of marriage into a farce through “Amoris Laetitia.” It …