Its author, Austen Invereigh, has since apologised for his opinion piece which he says he intended as a lighthearted "silly season" filler.

His article, which was published in Crux, names several prominent Catholic writers who have converted to Catholicism that Invereigh said were suffering from "convert neurosis".

His opinion piece went on to say he believed what Francis's critics disliked in other Churches may have conditioned their perception of the papacy.

This would predispose them "to see natural organic developments as ruptures or compromises with relativism and modernity," Invereigh said.

His controversial article then went on to praise Michael Sean Winters at the National Catholic Reporter for saying that he's sick of converts "telling us that the Pope isn't Catholic."

Retired Texas bishop Renee Henry Gracida is one of those challenging Invereigh. He says in his experience converts hold their Catholic faith more dear than anything else.

"It has been my experience, and the experience of all of the bishops and priests that I have known that practically all of the converts to the faith that we have known are exemplars of the two characters in the two parables of Our Lord Jesus Christ: The Buried Treasure and The Pearl of Great Price," he says.

Source

• Lifesite
• Lifesite
• Crux
• irishcatholic.ie