He threw them into the Tiber River in a videotaped protest to denounce what he called the “pagan idolatry” taking place on Pope Francis’ watch. The incident underscored the lengths to which Pope Francis’ traditionalist critics were willing to go to vent their opposition to history’s first Latin American pope.

Guillermo Marco, spokesman for the pope when he was Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, told Reuters it had been a "wasted opportunity" for Argentina. Francis, he said, had

During Francis’ time as pope, he spoke on a wide array of controversial and political issues, including immigration, same-sex marriage, LGBTQ rights and surrogacy.