How will Pope Francis be remembered after his death on April 21, 2025? Well, depending on where people stand, they are going to offer very different answers. However, as to an issue that roiled that Church not so long ago—sexual abuse by the clergy—Francis will probably be remembered for kicking the can down the road.

The Pope reached the age of 88 years and was the leader of the Catholic Church for 12 years. He was the 266th Pope.

For the next month, Catholics and others will watch a series of Papal events starting with Pope Francis’s lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica. His funeral will follow, and President Trump and Mrs. Trump will be attending. Next, we will observe at least 90 eligible Cardinals convene in the Vatican to secretly elect a new Pope. The voting process will continue until one candidate gets a majority of the votes.

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This secretive process ends when the faithful see white smoke pour out of the special chimney attached to the stove where the ballots are burned. Black smoke from that chimney means that a majority vote has not been reached, and the selection process must continue.

Even though I am not a Catholic, I have lived through this process several times. There is something mysterious and fascinating about all the hoopla these occasions generate. Over the last two millennia, the Papacy has accumulated importance from its small start with St. Peter. The Pope is the head of the Roman Catholic church and the Leader of Vatican City, which makes him a head of state. The fact that Pope Francis was the 266th Pope bears witness to the historical durability of the Papacy and the Roman Catholic church.

During his 12-year Papacy, Pope Francis will be remembered for what he did and did not do. I suspect he will be recalled mostly as a “status quo” Pope because he did not make any radical changes to Church doctrine. He made some politically controversial statements during his time, but they were absorbed by time and the news cycles.

What Pope Francis did not do was take meaningful action against the ongoing scandal of clergy sex abuse against the young in the church. Numerous books and films focused on this scandal during Pope Francis’s papacy (many from the left side of the aisle, such as Spotlight), but Pope Francis did little to discourage or remedy the problem.

At the same time, the Roman Catholic Church (“RCC”) spent money lobbying state legislatures to oppose efforts to make it easier for victims of clergy abuse to sue the church. Since the problem of sex abuse of young Catholics by Catholic clergy has been going on for centuries, observers of the RCC might conclude that this scandal is tolerated as “part of doing business.” Others, however, were afraid that these cases would bankrupt the church or keep the issue in the limelight for decades.

The new Pope will have a new opportunity to correct this scandal that hurts the reputation of Jesus and His Church. Will he show godly leadership, or will he choose to kick the can down the road like Pope Francis and allow a disgrace to fester?

Ned Cosby, a frequent contributor to American Thinker, is a former pastor, veteran Coast Guard officer, and retired English high school teacher. His novel OUTCRY is a love story exposing the refusal of Christian leaders to report and discipline clergy who sexually abuse our young people. This work of fiction addresses crimes that are all too real. Cosby has also written RECOLLECTIONS FROM MY FATHER’S HOUSE, tracing his own odyssey from 1954 to the present. For more info, visit Ned Cosby.