As Pope Francis completes a decade in Vatican here are some controversies he was embroiled in

Pope Francis on Monday (March 13) will mark 10 years as the head of the Roman Catholic Churchand will be celebrating Mass with cardinals in the chapel of the Vatican's Santa Marta hotel where he has been living since being elected as the catholic head. The 86-year-old is the first Jesuit and Latin American pope. He is the 266th pope elected, succeeding Pope Benedict XVI, who stepped down. With living such a religious life, Francis grabbed global attention for his remarks on the LGBTQ community, divorce/ remarriages and so on. Lets's take look at some of the controversies Francis was involved in:

Early life:

Jorge Mario Bergoglio or Pope Francis was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 17 December 1936 and worked as a bouncer, janitor and chemist in his early life before being elected as the pope. After being elected as he changed his name to Francis

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His religious life began in 1969 when he ordained a Catholic priest and was the Jesuit provincial superior from 1973 to 1979 in Argentina. Being considered a rival by many, he became papal to Bergoglio after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.

Francis has always been lauded for his humility, concern for the poor and commitment to interreligious dialogue. He maintained the views of the Church regarding the ordination of women as priests and even initiated dialogue where women were made full members of dicasteries in the Roman Curia.

Here is the list of controversies under the papacy of Francis:

Hell does not exist:

The Catholic leader was quoted saying "there is no hell; there is the disappearance of sinful souls," by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica implying that sinners who die without achieving eternal salvation are not punished. This quote apparently caused panic within the church and even the news surfaced on social media slamming him for such a response. However, Francis dismissed the news and said that the interview with La Repubblica was a "reconstruction" and not a transcript of what the pope actually said. This controversy erupted as Pope washed the feet of 12 prisoners at Rome's Regina Coeli prison among which two were Muslims, an orthodox Christian and a Buddhist. Responding to this, Francis said that everyone has the opportunity to change life and one cannot judge.

Francis on LGBTQ- 'Who am I to judge?"

Back in 2013, Pope sent a shockwave over his remarks on the LGBTQ community. He was asked whether there was a gay lobby at the church or not to which he replied, "if someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?"

The comment was hailed by all LGBTQ advocacies and mainstream media, marking it as a sign of change in the views of the Catholic church. The LGBT publication "The Advocate" even gave Francis their person of the year award and some even speculated that the church might become more open to blessing the communities.

The comment was appreciated largely because, Frabncis's predecessors like Pope Benedict XVI suggested that gay marriages are a threat to global peace, while on the other hand, Francis said that transsexuals and homosexuals should also be accepted and embraced by the Church, though he mentioned that he opposes schools and other institutions promoting or endorsing such tendencies.

Many advocacies celebrating the comment did not note that Francis also said that one must distinguish between a person who is gay and someone who makes a gay lobby, saying that a gay lobby isn't good

However, contradicting his own statement, in 2014 in Rome at a major gathering Francis said that "the complementarily of man and woman...is the root of marriage and family."

Marriage and Divorce

Speaking in Catholic terms, Francis issued an endorsement of major changes in the way priests approach Catholics who are either divorced or remarried. He outlined his vision on how the Vatican will promote family and family issues, by naming an American moderate to head the n ed VCatcian offside for families, directing to related institutes to give merciful care to spiritually wounded Catholics.

He even emphasised how he wants to focus on establishing church teaching on life and marriage issues with mercy, with an opening dialogue with other academic and scientific users, whether they are Christians or not.

Accuses sex abuse victims of slander

In Jan 2018, Pope shocked Chile by accusing the most notorious paedophile of slander that cost the Catholic church its credibility in the country. Francis said that until he sees proof that Bishop Juan Barros was involved in covering up the sex crimes of the Rev. Fernando Karadimas, all such accusations are "all calumny." His comments on the sex abuse scandals haunted the Vatican and it later announced that it is reviving its anti-paedophile community.