For most of the Pope Francis era, the pope himself was the most turbulent figure in Roman Catholicism: dropping rhetorical bombshells, making unexpected gestures and appointments and using his power and influence to reopen debates his predecessors closed.
Over the past two years, however, the sources of Catholic turbulence have shifted. The pope has repeatedly decided against making dramatic moves, most notably in early 2020, when following a synod on the challenges facing the Amazon region, he declined to issue an expected blessing for experiments with married priests.
But meanwhile the centrifugal forces he has set in motion, the sense of grievance and paranoia among traditionalists and sweeping ambition among liberals, are now pulling at.