As Amazonian bishops gathered at the Vatican on Oct. 21, 2019, a man entered a nearby church after dawn and stole three Indigenous statues brought to Rome for the occasion. He threw them into the Tiber River in a videotaped protest to denounce what he called the “pagan idolatry” taking place on Pope Francis’ watch.

Francis inherited a deeply divided Church after the resignation in 2013 of his predecessor, Benedict XVI. The conservative-progressive gap became a chasm after Francis, from Argentina, was elected the first non-European pope in 1,

The leader of the world’s 1 billion Roman Catholics addressed past scandals and embraced migrants, the poor and gay and lesbian faithful. Some wished he’d gone further.