The National Catholic Register’s Rome correspondent Edward Pentin told Newsmax on Monday that Pope Francis, who died Monday at 88, leaves behind a “checkered legacy” of bringing the marginalized into the church while antagonizing the traditional faithful.

“I think he’s going to be remembered, largely, for opening the church up, at least in the public perception, to everybody, particularly those on the periphery, those who perhaps didn’t look at the church, didn’t think the church was welcoming to them,” Pentin said on “Wake Up America.” “I think that’s probably one of the main things he’ll be remembered for. But the flip side of that is that he’ll also be remembered because he did that. I think there was a lot of discussion, a lot of controversy within the church, which I think didn’t really get into the public eye, but there was a lot of division in the church, a lot of concerns about the pope’s direction. They felt that he was perhaps going too far, that his idea of mercy was perhaps too broad, and that there was a lot of unease about it. So, I think it’s going to be interesting to see how that’s all addressed in the coming weeks and the next pope.”

Francis’ death was announced from the Vatican early Monday by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, an American member of the church hierarchy who is reportedly now the Vatican’s de facto administrator.

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