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Posted on 05/07/2025 9:27:59 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
They buried him. They mourned him. And they have gathered to pick his successor. But it’s still all about Pope Francis.
More than two weeks after Francis died, the cardinals who will begin voting in the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday to pick the next pope have been signaling whether they want to follow Francis’ lead, turn back or find some compromise between the two.
In homilies, public and private conversations, and most of all in remarks to their fellow cardinals in daily meetings behind the Vatican walls, the people who will choose the next pope have been holding what amounts to a referendum on Francis’ legacy. They have also been considering whether they want to perpetuate the so-called “Francis effect,” the idea that a charismatic, inclusive person of moral conscience on the geopolitical stage might draw new followers and lure lapsed Catholics back into the church.
“There are various wishes” within the group, said Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Sweden, who has been mentioned as a potential candidate for pope. Some want to elect a pontiff “who can follow in the footsteps of Francis. Some others said, ‘No, no. Not at all.’”
There is plenty in Francis’ legacy to fight over. During his 12-year pontificate, he made global headlines for landmark declarations that encouraged liberals, whether Catholic or secular. Of gay priests he said, “Who am I to judge,” and he allowed the blessing of same-sex couples. He raised his voice for migrants, implored world leaders to face a warming climate and criticized what he saw as the excesses of capitalism and the exploitation of the poor.
Within the church, he expanded the College of Cardinals to what he called “the peripheries,” nations far from the Vatican with the fastest-growing populations, as well as to some places where Catholics are an...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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Cardinal Peter Erdo, a Benedict appointment would be my choice.
I hope the Cardinals will keep in mind the worldwide decrease in collections and the paucity of vocations with the former church leader’s progressivism.
Too inclusive.
I hope the next pope focuses on theology, and not on things such as pushing illegal immigration or pushing global warming.
He made sure he could continue to destroy the church from beyond the grave by appointing heretical trash as Cardinals.
Let’s start with a Pope who talks more about Catholicism than he does criticize the political policies of the United States and other countries. That would be good for starters.
I would say that Cardinal Robert Sarah is the conservative with the best shot at winning.
Praying the Church elects a believer in the lifesaving blood of Jesus as the only way to salvation. The Holy Son of God who died on the cross and rose again on the third day and sits now at the right hand of the Father as our Kinsman Redeemer for all eternity.
Jorge Bergoglio with billions of lives he could directly reach, offered up only the reprobate gospel of the New World Order and worked for the ‘great reset’ to global anti-Christ authority via Godless Communism.
Agreed. I hope the new pope will stick to theology, and not push illegal immigration and global warming.
Jorge. And almost nobody mourned that evil.
It will literally require divine intervention for the election of true Catholic Pope.
Sarah would have to get by the fellow travelers Frankee filled the Vatican with. I don’t know if that can happen.
He would get the DEI votes.
Sarah is not European or White.
HE PUSHED ILLEGAL INVADERS, BUT NEVER HAS ONE SINGLE “IMMIGRANT” BEEN TAKE INTO THE VATICAN
The cat that wrote this is quite the comic -
“Francis effect,” the idea that a charismatic, inclusive person of moral conscience on the geopolitical stage might draw new followers and lure lapsed Catholics back into the church.”
I was raised in and have repudiated the CC owing to the horrible people in involved.
I saw Francis as a gay loving, meddling politician with a bad Gaia complex - anything but a pope.
He, in my personal observation, drove people *away* from the organization.
The politics reported on the run up to the voting appears that more of the same - or worse - will be the outcome.
My Mother is rolling in her grave.
“I hope the Cardinals will keep in mind the worldwide decrease in collections and the paucity of vocations with the former church leader’s progressivism.”
Maybe they have learned the lesson of “Get Woke, Go Broke”, but it seems unlikely to me that the kind of lifelong Left wingers that Francis would appoint, would be likely to reform in the face of reality, unless it was an intense crisis of some sort.
But as you point out, there are hard metrics that should be reviewed, like the number of vocations, revenue, church attendance patterns, and baptisms.
Maybe there might be something in the numbers that could sway the vote.
Nothing to do now but pray.
Abhp Vigano is the man for the hour to save the Church.
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