Posted on 05/01/2025 8:55:54 AM PDT by ebb tide
Rorate has chosen to provide a list that is useful for identifying those who may not be the best choices available for the Cardinal Electors in the 2025 Conclave -- for doctrinal or moral reasons, or simply for reasons of administrative ineptitude.
After 12 years of doctrinal disaster, moral ambiguity, and administrative authoritarianism and chaos, the Church deserves unity and peace.
This is our guide of problematic Cardinals: if you hear one of the names below after the Habemus Papam... it could be a sign of trouble in the years ahead: small, middle-sized, or huge problems...
The Who's Who of Bad Options in the Conclave
De Kesel from Belgium is noteworthy for two reasons. First of all, he was a protégé of Sankt Gallen cardinal Godfried Danneels, notorious for trying to silence and even victim blaming a boy molested by one of his fellow bishops. De Kesel followed his example in dealing ineffectively with child sexual abuse. Secondly, he supported a controversial document of the Belgium bishops, in late 2022, allowing for liturgical blessing of gay couples, in defiance of the Vatican.
Beyond this he’s a typical radical progressive, supporting married priests and female ordination and communion for any divorced remarried person, who says their conscience supports it.
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Hollerich a Jesuit from Luxembourg impresses as one of the most radical cardinals in the world. He seems to be very concerned with politics, but to have little faith in the Catholic faith. He has called for married priests, suggested that the ordination of women as priests is possible, and outright said the Church’s condemnation of homosexual acts is false (only to backtrack later).
He also suggested Cardinal Woelki in Germany ought to resign, in spite of the fact that he has been one of the most pro-active German prelates in fighting abuse and was falsely accused by progressive media. Hollerich argued he should do this, simply because of public opinion, even though the accusations weren’t fair. Meanwhile, Hollerich has been rather friendly with Cardinal Marx who actually did actually mishandle abuse accusations.
The weaponization of the abuse crisis and placing popular opinion above actual help (or harm) for victims seems rather worrying.
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Grech from Malta, the secretary general of the Synod on Synodality, requires no further introduction. His own clergy has accused him of being a bully, he got involved in financial care-home scandal, allied himself to Hollerich and the German bishops and has called for a diverse ‘rainbow church’.
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Marx, from Germany, has become pretty infamous at this point. Once Pope Benedict had made him a cardinal he started to push modernists standpoints, arguing for communion for the divorced remarried and even intercommunion with Protestants (who deny the Catholic doctrine on the Eucharist). He had a leading role in the attempts by German bishops to instrumentalize abuse cover ups by previous liberal bishops to push for more liberal reform.
The irony of this was recently exposed, when it turned out, that the liberal Protestant church in Germany had an even worse abuse problem , with research suggesting that more progressive changes would not resolve the issues; and with it being revealed that Marx had himself badly mishandled abuse. Marx even offered to resign over it, but Francis predictably turned this down.
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Radcliffe is easily in the top 10, if not top 5, most ‘radical liberal’ cardinals group. He has become rather notorious for describing homosexual acts between men, as to be likened with Christ’s self-gift in the Eucharist. These blasphemous statements were quietly removed from his English Wikipedia article, shortly before he was given an important role in the Synod on Synodality, and then made cardinal. Meanwhile he has tried to backtrack and deny he held those views, but he still pushes married priests and it’s undeniable he has pushed homosexual priests, too, saying they had a ‘calling’.
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McElroy comes across as the most radical cardinal from the USA and is known as a protégé of the disgraced abuser McCarrick. While he denies having known about, and failed to act on, the accusations against his close ally, he managed to mishandle abuse cases as bishop himself, even though he was appointed after the American bishops had already adopted far stricter norms. He also implemented both Amoris Laetitia and Traditionis Custodes in radical ways, allowing the divorced remarried to receive communion (even taking the position they often have no blame for their choices), while banning Tridentine masses. His diocese of San Diego even spoke of ‘LGBT families’, a term contrary to the definition of the family provided in the catechism. He has also called for all Catholics to be able to receive communion, even when they’re openly living in mortal sin, and for ordained female deacons
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Tobin is another progressive American who’s been linked to McCarrick and is presented as an ally of McElroy and Cupich. He has also pushed for ‘inclusion’ of LGBT- people, in a similar way blurred Catholic doctrine and supported James Martin. What stands out about him is that he posted a strange message with erotic overtones a few years ago, but then quickly deleted it. It was claimed that this wasn’t a message to a lover, but to his sister, and that he had trouble using technology. The reader can read it and judge for him-/herself if this is a normal message for an elderly men to post online ‘for his sister’.
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Farrell is yet another American progressive accused of ties to McCarrick. Recently the well-known Irish Youtube blogger Robert Nugent (blogging under the name 'Decrevi Determined to be Catholic' or @thecatholicman) heavily doubted cardinal Farrell's statements about his knowledge regarding the evil deeds of his former housemate, who was even convicted of abuse in a Vatican trial under pope Francis.
Nugent, illustrating his own story with personal photos, also questioned Farrell, about his statements that he met the equally infamous father Marcial Maciel 'only once or twice'; and questioned Farrell’s cv on the Vatican website which mentions his alleged study at the University of Salamanca. According to Nugent this cv conceals Farrell's past formation time within the Legion of Christ, during the leadership of Maciel, and makes Farrells own statements highly unreliable. Maciel was the founder of this congregation and was reported for sexual abuse of many minors. Farrell presents as another James Martin supporter and more importantly, he openly criticized Archbishop Chaput for continuing to adhere to Church doctrine, in the sense that the divorced remarried have to live chastely to receive communion.
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Cupich the Archbishop of Chicago, also fits into this pattern of American liberals appointed by Francis. Accused of ties to McCarrick, a supporter of James Martin and criticized for his handling of abuse.
Three things stand out about him particularly:
1. He implemented one of the most draconian interpretations of Traditionis Custodes, banning all Tridentine masses, without exception.
2. He tried to downplay the selling of fetal organs by Planned Parenthood and suggested that strict migration laws were evenly bad.
3. He recently suggested gay couples who adopted kids were doing something good.
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Gregory, the former Archbishop of Washington D.C., is viewed as a more moderate American liberal, but has also been accused of having ties to McCarrick. While not as radical as McElroy or Cupich, he has still come to embrace James Martin’s pro-LGBT activism and became more friendly towards homosexuality, even apologizing to homosexuals.
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Chow, a Jesuit from Hong Kong seems the most radical of the Asian cardinals. He supports dialogue with the Communist government from the mainland, which is clearly a one-way dialogue, drawing the Hong Kong church into the sphere of communism. He has expressed his support for women’s ordination and for a pro-LGBT policy. He even participated in a pro-LGBT even pushed by James Martin during the Synod on Synodality.
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Parolin again stands out as the leading player in the deal that’s been rightfully criticized for swelling out the brave underground Church in China. Furthermore, it was his right-hand man Becciu who was convicted for corruption, while Parolin approved the 400 million deal. He is widely considered to be the leading contender in the entire conclave.
Besides, Parolin has had a leading role in pushing Traditionis Custodes, is rumoured to have been linked to McCarrick, too, and only started to strategically distance himself actively from the German bishops in 2022. All this would rather make him a questionable ‘compromise’ candidate.
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Gugerotti, the current prefect of the Dicastery of Oriental Churches also looks dangerous, as a possible ‘plan B’ for Parolin, also having been a protégé of Silvestrini. He has so far kept his cards close, however. Would he dare to oppose China? He was also rumoured to be involved in renewed attempts to ban the Tridentine Mass, although he later denied this. ThE fact that he hasn’t clarified his views more, and his being positioned as an alternative to the favorite Parolin, makes him extremely dangerous.
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Prevost, the current prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, is touted by some as Pope. His association with Cupich and Tobin, whom he both follows on Twitter could be a handicap. Cardinals could also have doubts because he’s accused by Catholics from Peru of mishandling abuse cases. His stance on documents as Fiducia Supplicans and Traditionis Custodes are completely unknown as his view on the future of the synod.
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You Heung-sik, the current prefect of the Dicastery of Clergy, is sometimes viewed as a moderate Asian cardinal. Something that could still turn many of his fellow Asian cardinals against him is that he has previously defended the controversial Vatican agreement with China. He has admitted himself that in South Korea some accused him of being a red bishop.
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Kikuchi, from Japan, has tolerated dissident pro-LGBT groups and their masses in his Archdiocese, while also pushing migration to Japan. Sources also state that he was made cardinal at the best of Cardinal Turkson.
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Turkson, from Ghana, has been one of the few cardinals in Africa to support Francis in criticizing laws that outlaw homosexual acts. His openness to condoms in marriage to prevent Aids and his support for Greta Thunberg are noteworthy, too. Finally, he was removed from his function as prefect of the Dicastery for Integral Development with commentators suggesting, this was because he is a poor administrator.
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Tagle, from the Philippines, was popular for a long time. Then he got removed from his post leading Caritas International over poor management. He has also defended the Vatican deal with China and been criticized for being weak, compared to his fellow bishops in the Philippines when it came to opposing the Duterte government.
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Zuppi, the Archbishop of Bologna in Italy, is a member of the radical Sant’Egidio community. He has distanced himself from pro-lifers, involved himself needlessly in Italian politics, to criticize plans by Meloni to introduce direct elections of the prime minister, supported James Martin and received praise and support from Italian Freemasons. He also infamously allowed the blessing of a gay union and then lied about it.
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Roche, the current prefect for the Dicastery of Divine Worship, has shown himself to be both an opportunist and a bully. Under Sarah he expressed himself open to the Tridentine Mass, when Traditionis Custodes was published he went beyond the text in dictating to bishops that they had to shut down popular Tridentine masses, and lastly when Francis was ailing he suddenly expressed himself in a more tolerant fashion again.
He has spent less energy opposing attempts to introduce lay preaching in Germany and Australia, or liturgical blessings for gay couples in Belgium.
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Bo, from Myanmar, has taken a strong stance against China, but is viewed by some as too weak in condemning the dictatorship and its human rights abuses in his own country. Furthermore, he took a rather radical stance on communion for the divorced remarried during the Synod on the Family.
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De Aviz, another Brazilian and the former prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, was originally promoted by Pope Benedict XVI and viewed as a centrist. He gradually came to be viewed as more liberal and while initially critical of Liberation theology started emphasizing its positive elements. Furthermore, he criticized the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith for its handling of the dissident US women religious. He also expressed openness for proposals to introduce married priests and criticized his predecessor for having taken a needlessly harsh stance against progressive dissident groups in Latin America. At the same time, as prefect he was critical of what he viewed as traditionalist groups who place themselves outside the Church by rejecting the Second Vatican Council. Even as Archbishop in Brazil he opposed Catholics who supported the Tridentine mass.
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Rocha, is the final controversial cardinal from Brazil who deserves a mention. He has long been viewed as a moderate, but was given an important role by Francis during the controversial synod on the youth in 2018. More importantly, he held a mass for ‘victims of anti-LGBT violence’, which was highjacked by a drag queen opposed to Church doctrine.
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Mendonça, the current Portuguese prefect for the Dicastery of Education and Culture, has (as was previously been mentioned) been rumoured by some in the mainstream media (link) to be a homosexual and supported a pro-homosexual and pro-abortion nun.
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Czerny is another Jesuit cardinal, a Czechian-Canadian. He is rumoured to be behind the leaks that exposed Tagle as a poor administrator and weakened his chances to become Pope. Now he has criticized conservatives for pushing to preserve Church unity, suggesting it’s overrated.
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Semeraro the Italian Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints and a member of the council of Cardinal advisors established by Pope Francis is also noticeably pro-LGBT. He expressed that he’d be fine with civil unions for homosexuals in 2016 and wrote a preface to the pro-LGBT book Possible Love: Homosexual Persons and Christian Morality in 2020 by Father Aristide Fumagalli.
In 2018 he expressed his disagreement with Christ’s teachings on divorce and remarriage in statements to Quotidiano di Puglia: “I say that if divorced people want to remarry this is even a good thing: It means that they have not lost faith in marriage. And today the Church is very attentive to the subjective aspect of the issues, so it must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Times change. … The parent who always punishes is as ineffective as the parent who never punishes.”
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Krajewski, a Polish cardinal and the 1st Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, has occasionally been touted as a compromise candidate. He has been extremely guarded about his own views on doctrinal issues. He has however embraced Pope Francis’ focus on social topics. This has even resulted in controversies where he provided support to transgender prostitutes and restored power to a building held by squatters, after authorities had shut the power of.
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Nemet is likely the most liberal cardinal from Eastern Europe. A diplomatic figure, his exact views are sometimes hard to guess. He favours female deacons, but was unclear on whether they could be ordained or not. He has tried to be in dialogue with the German Synodal Path, without either condemning or really supporting it. He has sometimes been claimed as a supporter of gender ideology; yet, sometimes taken a more critical stance on it. He allowed communion for the divorced remarried in certain cases in 2018.
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Sturla, from Urugay, experienced a quick rise early in the pontificate of Francis. He was quickly made Archbishop and Cardinal and took a weak stance on abortion and gay marriage. He later distanced himself from orthodox Catholics who opposed the transitioning of minors. After Fiducia Supplicans he took a more orthodox tone.
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Cobo Cano, from Spain, is often viewed as a progressive. While he expressed himself surprisingly orthodox on marriage and celibacy, he often speaks in vague platitudes in interviews, is accused of pushing for the revival of failed experiments with seminaries, and largely rose very quickly through having the right connections, including to the Jesuits and Cardinal Omella.
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Spengler, also from Brazil, has previously suggested married deacons could become priests, that women could be ordained deacons and taken a weak stance on civil unions for homosexuals.
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Fernandez cannot be left out of this list, as implausible as it may be. Francis’ choice as his final prefect for the Dicastery of Doctrine of Faith, apologized for handling abuse badly in his archdiocese just a few years ago, has written sexually explicit books, undermined Humanae Vitae, was likely the ghostwriter of Amoris Laetitia and nearly caused a schism with Fiducia Supplicans.
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Romero, from Marocco, is an ally on Vesco, another supporter of Fiducia Supplicans and married priests. He is also open to female deacons and suggested mass migration to the West was justified as a form of compensation for alleged exploitation.
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Battaglia, the Archbishop of Naples, isn’t as radical as Zuppi, but he’s mostly known as a street priest with limited focus on upholding doctrine and his been criticized for supporting LGBT group i ken, with the focus allegedly just being on opposing bullying and violence. There were rumours, that he initially wasn’t included on the list of new cardinals in 2024, due to controversies in his own Archdiocese regarding matters related to the mafia, with gossip flying around.
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Vesco, missionary from Algiers, is close to fellow Dominican Radcliffe, has supported Fiducia Supplicans and argued that the divorced remarried aren’t actually guilty of adultery; and therefore should be able to receive communion.
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Ping
How can we expect this bunch to elect a faithful Pope? (i.e. someone NOT on this list)
Thanks
These sound mostly pretty Discouraging
Is there - hopefully - a list of more favorable “candidates?”
Thank you
i read that Parolin had a medical emergency today - which,if true, might dampen enthusiasm for him due to health concerns.
thanks for posting this
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