The Last Frontier: the struggle over sex and marriage under Pope Francis.

The paper deals with the way the Church is facing the challenge of sexual modernization. This struggle, we argue, not only involves the orthodoxy of Church teaching on human society but also will contribute to define Francis’ papacy and the future of the Catholic Church. In this vein, the struggle with sexual modernization might be «the last frontier», the final dividing line between the universal Church and denominationalism. While the Protestant denominations have largely adjusted to and compromised with secular society in terms of accepting individualism and sexual modernization, the Church has instead defended the traditional views on marriage and sexuality. To accept homosexuality and same-sex marriage would be in effect the protestantization of Catholicism thereby becoming a denomination rather than a universal Church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]