As 2021 comes to a close, everyone is looking towards 2022. The news cycle over the last two years has been dominated by COVID-19 and that doesn’t seem to be subsiding — given the rash of infections the past few weeks as a result of the Omicron variant.

The Catholic world, meanwhile, had in 2021 one of its busiest years. The election of Joe Biden as president — this January will officially mark his first year in office — also dominated news coverage. That Biden was also a Catholic (only second after John F. Kennedy in 1960) thrust Catholicism into the political news coverage. Politics plus religion equals news. It’s a familiar formula.

Biden, a practicing Catholic who attends Mass on Sundays, was at odds this year with many U.S. bishops — setting up a year-long debate over whether he (and other pro-abortion politicians) should receive Holy Communion. In the end, the bishops offered more clarification in the importance of the Eucharist without singling out Biden. Truth is, no one knows if the bishops actually considered mentioning Biden or other pro-abortion-rights Catholics.

Issues around politics and religion will likely dominate once again in 2022. The abortion issue and a pending Supreme Court decision regarding access to it will be a big story in the coming year. The Catholic church, a major part of the abortion debate in this country for decades, will play a major role in news stories that will be written over the coming months.  

At the same time, Pope Francis, who recently turned 85, will again be surrounded by rumors that he will either resign or die, something an ITV new anchor mistakenly did just a few days ago. Whether this pope — the most polarizing in centuries — can chip away at his agenda to change the church in the 21st century will continue to pit traditionalists versus progressives.

Here are the five big news trends and stories journalists need to keep an eye on in the new year:

(5) Pope Francis and his focus on a progressive agenda  

This coming year could be the one where the battle between this pontiff and doctrinal traditionalists intensifies even further. A Dec. 17 Associated Press story set the stage for such a confrontation in what will be Francis’ ninth year as head of the Catholic church.

This is how that story opened:

Pope Francis celebrated his 85th birthday on Friday, a milestone made even more remarkable given the coronavirus pandemic, his summertime intestinal surgery and the weight of history: His predecessor retired at this age and the last pope to have lived any longer was Leo XIII over a century ago.

Yet Francis is going strong, recently concluding a whirlwind trip to Cyprus and Greece after his pandemic-defying jaunts this year to Iraq, Slovakia and Hungary. And he shows no sign of slowing down his campaign to make the post-COVID world a more environmentally sustainable, economically just and fraternal place where the poor are prioritized.

Francis also has set in motion an unprecedented two-year consultation of rank-and-file Catholics on making the church more attuned to the laity.

Francis spent part of 2021 going after traditionalists, primarily in the form of the Latin Mass. In the closing weeks of December, the pope approved further restrictions. The National Catholic Reporter posted this story on Dec. 18.

The clarifications, published Dec. 18, ban priestly ordinations and confirmations in the old rite and limit the frequency in which priests who receive a dispensation to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass can do so.

The Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments released the responses to 11 questions (or dubia) prompted by Francis' July 16 decree, Traditionis Custodes, which limited the use of the traditional Latin Mass.

The responses, which are addressed to the presidents of Catholic bishops' conferences around the world, were approved by the pope during a meeting with the head of the Vatican's liturgy office, Archbishop Arthur Roche, on Nov. 18.

Roche, in an introduction to the new text, said that each norm has the "sole purpose of preserving the gift of ecclesial communion" with the pope.

In explaining his original decision to reimpose restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass this past summer, the pope “lamented that it had become a source of division in the church,” the newspaper reported.

NCR also reported the following:

Since then, the decree has become a lightning rod for a vocal minority group of Catholics who still favor the traditional Latin Mass, many of whom also have expressed skepticism or even outright rejection of the reforms of Vatican II and of the legitimacy of Francis.

Expect more of this in 2022 (it could spill over to other areas in the Catholic world like in what The New York Times simply calls the “modernization” of Notre Dame in Paris — although journalists in the secular press shouldn’t ignore such stories because they don’t understand them. They should, with the help of experts and presenting both sides, delve into issues that matter to millions of the faithful.  

(4) Pandemic closures and impact on Mass attendance

Omicron upended Christmas plans this time (for a second time) and the winter is expected to be bleaker than just a few months back. Combating this virus will remain the No. 1 priority of both politicians and public health officials, although much fatigue and weariness has set in for Americans and many around the world.

The pandemic continues to affect religious observances. Many had to alter their Christmas plans, although lockdowns don’t seem to be the preferred method to stop COVID-19 like was prescribed in most of 2020. That means attending Mass won’t be too much of an issue, although many churches still provide online streams.

Will Omicron — or any future variant — upend Lent and Easter for Catholics, which this year is slated for Sunday, April 17? It remains to be seen.

Nonetheless, as parishes increasingly returned to in-person worship in 2021, attendance levels among Catholic churches – and houses of worship across the board – remain short of pre-2020 levels.

At the same time, Gallup reported that Americans who are members of a house of worship dropped below 50% (to only 47% belong to a church, synagogue or mosque) for the first time since the polling agency has been measuring the subject.

By contrast, U.S. church membership was 73% when Gallup first measured it in 1937 and remained near 70% for six decades — before beginning a slow decline in the 21st century. How the pandemic contributed (or even accelerated) to this already-falling number is something journalists need to look at because it affects both the church, society and our culture for years to come.  

(3) Joe Manchin’s faith and what it means for American politics  

Much of the Biden administration’s agenda hinges on West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin. His reluctance to vote in favor of the president’s Build Back Better bill resulted in its death — at least for the time being in a 50-50 Senate.  

Manchin’s politics, political philosophy and voter base are only part of the story. His Catholic faith is as well.

GetReligion’s Julia Duin addressed this very issue back on June 22 after a New Yorker profile of Manchin neglected to include a faith angle. This is the main thrust of her argument:

What drives Manchin, what gives him the courage to stand alone as he so often does? That’s a totally logical question.

One of the few times “faith” is mentioned is in a sentence where Manchin “broke faith with the Republican Party” or that he has “faith in compromise.”

There are the signs: he takes his faith seriously. He’s from an Italian-American family; grew up in a family of five kids; they were all inspired in John F. Kennedy becoming the country’s first Catholic president. Of the 14 Catholic Democrats in the Senate, only Manchin opposes abortion. That alone would be an interesting profile: The loneliest seat in Congress: Joe Manchin as a pro-life Democrat.

It should be noted that tmatt has covered Manchin’s faith beforehand in this very space, pointing out — early on — how important it is to the senator. This is yet another reminder that this religion angle could be a major part of the political debate in 2022.

(2) Biden’s Catholicism and future policy decisions  

Biden, as noted, took office as the second Catholic U.S. president in history. While he has angered many conservative Catholics for his support of abortion and same-sex marriage, the press has often lauded him for being “deeply Catholic.”

Yes, Biden attends Mass on Sundays and very often has cited his Catholic upbringing and values for making him the man he is today. Nonetheless, many Catholics don’t see him as a champion for the unborn and other beliefs the church holds.

The culture war will likely intensify and having Biden in office will certainly continue to serve as an accelerant. The Midterm elections, scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 8, will put many of these issues — above all abortion — to the forefront once again. It’s no fluke that the Religion News Association named Biden the religion newsmaker of 2021.  

Political reporters will once again be the ones covering such issues, meaning readers need to look to the Catholic press to get the other side on such issues. That’s not likely to change in 2022. In fact, there could be even more polarization should Republicans win control of the House and Senate by this time next year.

(1) Abortion and what the Supreme Court does or does not decide

This was the year when the Supreme Court heard Mississippi’s bid to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision establishing the right to abortion. At the same time, SCOTUS refused to block Texas’s passage of a law allowing private citizens to enforce a ban on abortions after cardiac activity can be detected early in a pregnancy.  

A decision on the Mississippi case could move the needle in favor of anti-abortion advocates for the first time in decades. It will certainly dominate the news cycle for much of this year (the Court’s term typically ends on June 30) and into the November elections.

The Court is majority Catholic, something the mainstream press will focus on when it comes to its politically conservative members who don’t see abortion as a protected Constitutional right.

In addition, the Catholic faith of the Court’s newest member, Amy Coney Barrett, will once again be made an issue. Barrett’s faith and family was during the nomination process — but will it be lost on most in the press that she remains the only mother on the nine-person panel?  

FIRST IMAGE: President Joe Biden via Wikipedia Commons