There's a solid chance we have a 2nd liberal pope in a row. There is a similar chance that the Cardinals decide that they need a social conservative w/ at least some liberal economic policy bona fides to shore up Catholicism's hemorrhaging of members to Evangelical churches across the global south.
Well, that might be short sighted, however. These "evangelical churches" are turning out to be cuckoo churches. Holding the socially humane line is more likely to win Christians back once they have burned themselves on social inhumanity. It's far less the style than the attitude that's a problem.
So basically he skipped Catholic Politics 101 and thinks the conclave runs on Twitter polls? Bold move. Should we tell him how succession actually works or let him spiral a bit longer?
Glancing at Wikipedia this doesn’t seem true. Yes, a majority of the cardinals were elevated by Francis. However, only about 1/2 the cardinals will be in the conclave. Of those, about 2/3 are JPII and Benedict.
fwiw since the only disqualification is a maximum age limit this is basically invariably true for any pope who's served for a while -- most of his predecessor's appointees will have died or aged out
Americans (rather understandably) think that all Catholics are like the frothing lunatics who are the loudest voices in the American Church. The Chuch is not like that anywhere else in the world
Africa. There are quite a few African parishes that have some real frothing lunatics. Usually it's a different type and style, but there none the less.
From a Conclave that selected doctrinaire Nazi-Youth Ratzinger (Benedict) after John Paul died, who can be surprised what manner of man will be chosen after Francis.
We will see!
Look, Benedict definitely had issues(like protecting pedophiles), but he was quite literally forced into the Hitler Youth by conscription and was said to skip out on meetings. His family as a whole despised Nazis and was harassed and demoted for it.
Let's just say I was not a fan of his during John Paul's time, and more so NOT during his Papacy owing to issues and YES the protecting pedophiles as well.
Conscripted or not...it was just the Icing on the cupcake of a Bad Papacy. 🧁
We will have to see what this Conclave chooses, but I'm not terribly optimistic for a Church that continues wedded to moribund traditions and backwards looking future.
(Or "why I'm no longer a practicing Catholic")😒
I think it kinda just takes away from your arguments if you imply he was a fervent Nazi, when in fact he was forced to join. He doesn't have to be a Nazi to be a terrible person. As for the next pope, one of the forerunners is actually quite progressive and would be the first asian pope.
Good pts.
But his well meaning his endorsement of "hermeneutic of continuity", he really embodied taking in ideas to fit them into the traditional past historical understandings of the Church. The moniker "God's Rotweiller"-whether fair of not-reflects this.
He won’t be successful- but it takes a lot of delusion for a convert to think he can argue theology with the pontiff or his delegates- and retribution is the Trump/Vance brand, loyalty is their weapon.
Corruption is rife throughout the Catholic church... I mean, the Catholic church *IS* the world's largest pedophile protection service, after all. Do you think a papal election cannot be rigged through bribery, hmmm?
Even within the USA, the demographics of most congregations tend to reflect those of The Church in general, i.e., fewer and fewer Irish- and Italian-Americans, MANY more from the global South.
Money is on a relatively progressive pope who is slightly more cool with the Latin Mass to quiet down some of the bishops that have been marinating in the right wing infobubble since Vatican II.
Apparently, the two frontrunners are a Fiipino who's made a reputation similar to Francis' and a black man. Either way, the trad cath losers are about to lead a schism.
The cardinals tend to be unique among elections of national leaders because it seems like every time a pope dies they really take time to think about changing directions entirely.
Messaging a change in the wind often means not making the obvious choice.
Hopefully the fascist faction of the conclave has been pushed into a corner. Maybe that faction will even quit and go with a rogue fascist pope in some splinter Catholic group. Cults of personality never pan out well in Christendom.
Leonard Leo and Steve Bannon along with their merry gangs of testosterone leaking medieval mercenaries across all institutions do believe Francis was a fascist. If the Pope's calculations work out they will believe and say the next pope is fascist.
Did I read that he'd appointed something like 80% of the current cardinals? That's amazing to me, given that he was pope for only something like twelve years.
I feel like there's something I don't get, because I can't see how 80% of the cardinals can turn over in just twelve years.
When I hear Cardinal, I think of Joseph Bernardin, because I was born near Chicago in the late 60s and he was larger than life for my entire childhood. But yeah, now that I look, he was a cardinal for not much more than a decade.
ChatGPT hasn’t quite caught up with the news yet, but “As of April 22, 2025, Pope Francis has appointed 108 of the 135 cardinal electors currently eligible to participate in the upcoming papal conclave, constituting approximately 80% of the voting members. “
Comments
They tended to talk a lot
“The Selectorate”
Until they realized they were actually frothing lunatics more conservative than them!
Now they all “got one black friend”
In addition to living long enough for others to age out of voting.
Tagle seems cool though, I hope he gets it
We will see!
We will have to see what this Conclave chooses, but I'm not terribly optimistic for a Church that continues wedded to moribund traditions and backwards looking future.
(Or "why I'm no longer a practicing Catholic")😒
But his well meaning his endorsement of "hermeneutic of continuity", he really embodied taking in ideas to fit them into the traditional past historical understandings of the Church. The moniker "God's Rotweiller"-whether fair of not-reflects this.
https://www.ncregister.com/interview/remi-brague-ratzinger-s-progressivism-during-vatican-ii
Cardinal Burke is about as far from Pope Francis as you can get. Francis even had him demoted and removed from high profile posts
I anticipate another nerd pope like Benedict, with slightly better people skills.
Messaging a change in the wind often means not making the obvious choice.
Didn’t take long 🤮
https://nypost.com/2025/04/21/world-news/could-nys-cardinal-dolan-become-the-first-american-pope/
https://www.mind-war.com/p/catholic-coup-jd-vance-paypal-mafia
I feel like there's something I don't get, because I can't see how 80% of the cardinals can turn over in just twelve years.