The bizarre accusations of Claudia Paganini against the Pope. From claims of patriarchy during the Way of the Cross to criticism of his travel choices: but the Church cannot be judged with a secularized mindset.

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Criticizing the Pope is the most widely practiced sport in human history for gaining visibility.

Lately it has also become fashionable, especially among Catholics. That a theologian does it is therefore not surprising; what is surprising are the reasons.

 

“The Pope’s Way of the Cross? A stage for masculinity”

Claudia Paganini, an Italo-Austrian theologian, scholar of media ethics at the University of Innsbruck and activist in the Green Party, has in fact described the celebration of the Way of the Cross as a sort of “stage for masculinity.”

She criticized the decision of Leo XIV to personally carry the cross along the entire route.

While the Pope explained that he wanted to send a visible sign of participation in the suffering of the world, Paganini interpreted this gesture as the image of the strong male, capable of bearing the weight and embodying visible and dominant authority.

The theologian then astonishingly linked Leo XIV’s initiative to a broader “political semantics of the strong leader,” comparing the papal gesture to figures such as Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Benjamin Netanyahu.

Leaders who present themselves as powerful, she says, but create “suffering, devastation, and chaos.” Thus the Pope, “through the topos of the strong man, offers no counterbalance but instead reinforces a dangerous political rhetoric.”

Among the colorful list of bizarre criticisms, there was still someone missing who would detect patriarchy even in the Way of the Cross.

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Claudia Paganini against the papal visit to Monaco

The theologian also criticized the Pope’s trip to Monaco, judging it a “lack of theological sensitivity” to have “favored it among all places as a travel destination.”

In her view, it would have been better to visit other places, such as Gaza or Ukraine.

The papal visit to Monaco has also been mocked online. Just a few hours ago, the comedian Maurizio Crozza also made fun of the pontiff, demagogically recalling that Francis’ first trip was to Lampedusa.

Aside from the fact that Leo XIV has already made an initial trip to Turkey and Lebanon last December, Monaco is also just one of dozens of destinations Leo XIV will visit this year, including Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea.

Neither Monaco nor any of these destinations was chosen based on GDP or the wealth of its inhabitants.

 

Why the Pope does not go to Gaza or Ukraine

The Pope goes everywhere, among the rich and the poor.

With one exception: where there are real limitations.

Places such as Gaza, Iran, or Ukraine are currently extremely delicate geopolitical contexts, and a papal visit would indeed carry enormous symbolic weight but would also cause huge and unpredictable consequences, risking further worsening the situation of the inhabitants.

From a logistical standpoint, they would also require extreme security conditions, endless agreements between the parties in conflict, and such extensive preparation as to make organizing a trip practically unfeasible.

Even Pope Francis wished until the very end to find a way to personally visit the only parish in Gaza, but had to give up, limiting himself to calling every evening and constantly supporting his local representatives.

 

Judging the Church with a secularized mindset

There is also a rather evident aspect.

Turning every gesture of the Pope into a sociological statement to be evaluated through metapolitical categories—from criticism of “patriarchy” to the choice of destinations based on war emergencies—reveals a secularized mindset.

The Church does not function as a geopolitical actor, nor as a sociological observatory.

It does not calibrate its actions to conform to feminist narratives or media logic that demands physically showing up at every war emergency, but rather grounds them in a universal mission oriented toward the person and the truth that transcends time, trends, and geopolitical scenarios.