Pope Francis

We had the same problem with Pope John XXIII and Vatican II in 1962.  The Catholic Church had been riding high since the 1940s in the US as had all other Christian Churches.  Many Biblical movies had been made.  Bishop Fulton J. Sheen had a weekly TV program in the 1950s.  Catholic schools in the US were excellent and virtually free.  Catholic hospitals dominated our cities and healthcare was affordable.  Catholic Nuns worked as teachers, nurses and hospital administrators and were paid $50 per month.  After Vatican II, they began to leave their convents and were replaced by lay teachers and accountants.

Behind the scenes the US federal government was plotting to replace the churches with a socialist government. In 1947, Everson v. Board of Education, the US Supreme Court ignored the US Constitution and started the war on Christianity.  In 1962, the Court banned Prayer in School.  In 1964, Lyndon Johnson declared the War on Poverty and passed the Civil Rights Act.  In 1973, Roe v Wade made abortion legal.

After 2 World Wars, Europe gave up on Christianity and Marxists in their governments created socialist governments to replace Christianity entirely.

Despite its stated objectives to include the laity in ministry, Vatican II in 1962 can be viewed as the beginning of the decline of support for Catholicism and the rest of Christianity.  Now, in 2015, we see an open war on Christianity by the US federal government.

In 1978, Pope John Paul II was elected Pope and did a great job until his death in 2005.  In 2005 Pope Benedict XVI was elected Pope and did a very good job until he resigned in 2013.  That gave us 35 years of conservative continuity and we thought that would be enough to pack the College of Cardinals with conservatives, but we were wrong.  The role of the Church had always been to hold high standards, but now, Pope Francis is lowering the bar and confusion abounds.

Data Sources: http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?s=Pope+Francis