NEW YORK • Many of the conservative prelates who dominate the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops were appointed by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. His recent death deprives them of a symbolic figurehead but is unlikely to weaken their collective power or end the culture wars that have divided the USCCB, according to Catholic academics and clergy.

David Gibson, director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture, noted that conservative-leaning bishops were appointed over a 35-year period by Benedict and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, and routinely prevail in voting over the relatively more liberal group of bishops appointed since 2013 by Pope Francis.

“That conservative core is better organized and, as shown by the recent election of USCCB officers, more motivated as it reacts against the more open and unpredictable style of Francis,” Gibson said via email.

“The Francis-style bishops are not as numerous nor as well-organized,” Gibson added. “But they are also contending with well-organized conservative Catholic activists who can make their jobs exceedingly difficult if those bishops are perceived as being too focused on social justice or other teachings perceived as ‘progressive.’”

The USCCB doesn’t track the number of bishops appointed by individual popes, according to its spokesperson, Chieko Noguchi. A sociology professor who does do such tracking, Katie Hoegeman of Missouri State University, said says that of more than 200 bishops now active in the USCCB, about half were initially appointed by Francis and half by his two predecessors.

Massimo Faggioli, a professor of historical theology at Villanova University, says he doesn’t foresee any major shift in the USCCB’s decision-making in the aftermath of Benedict’s death.

“It is a fact that whenever there’s an election (within the USCCB), the more conservative side always wins,” he said in a telephone interview.