VATICAN CITY // According to one of the most authoritative lay voices, the Catholic Church stands at a crossroads, marked by unprecedented polarization and internal debate in the wake of Pope Francis’ death. 

That is the take Gian Maria Vian — historian, journalist, and former director of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano — offered in a candid and critical interview with the Chilean daily La Tercera.

Vian is a leading Vatican expert, having directed L’Osservatore Romano for over a decade (2007–2018), providing him with a unique vantage point on papal leadership and the inner workings of the Holy See. Notably, it was Pope Francis himself who requested Vian’s resignation, a move that Vian now describes as fortuitous, given subsequent changes that reduced the newspaper’s autonomy.

Vian characterizes Francis as a pope who “had good intentions, but his achievements have been incomplete and contradictory.” He argues that the exercise of papal power under Francis has highlighted the urgent need for reform: “His exercise of papal power has been such that a reform of the papacy is necessary and urgent, something that John Paul II already advocated with the encyclical Ut unum sint”.

According to Vian, the promise of a more collegial and horizontal Church was not fulfilled. 

“But he has been anything but collegial,” Vian said of the late pope. “He spoke of synodality, which is excellent, but of collegiality, nothing — he forgot about it, because he was very authoritarian. He himself acknowledged it several times.”

Vian is unequivocal about the consequences of Pope Francis’ leadership: “He has left a more polarized Church. He has done nothing to restore unity in the Church.” The historian points to the Chilean sex abuse crisis as a turning point, noting that the late pope’s handling of abuse scandals and his remarks during his visit to Chile exposed his authoritarian style.

Vian also criticizes Pope Francis’ communication strategy, which, while effective, centralized all messaging around the pope himself: “He achieved effective communication, but at the same time destroyed Vatican communication, because there was only one voice. When he wanted to do something, for example an interview, he did it directly, leaving everyone else aside.”

Looking to the imminent conclave, Vian expresses skepticism that Pope Francis’ appointments will guarantee continuity. “I don’t think so, because it is not clear what many of the cardinals think or what their tendencies are. Not even the pope himself knew them well,” he observed. 

This lack of familiarity among the cardinals, many of whom were appointed by Francis, could lead to a prolonged and unpredictable conclave: “We will have to see if they manage to get to know each other in that time, because they don’t know each other. As I said before, not even the pope himself knew them.”

Summing up Pope Francis’ pontificate, Vian is blunt, asserting that the Church is now more divided than when the late pontiff began his papacy, and that the reforms promised have not materialized. 

“He favored a process against himself,” Vian concluded. “Greater collegiality? Nothing. The balance is in the red.”