Before he retires or dies, Pope Francis needs to reform the process for choosing his successor because the current rules could result in a conclave deadlocked between a conservative and a liberal candidate. The process of choosing a pope is not divinely inspired. It is a human creation that has changed over time and can Read more
Birds of a feather flock together, says the old English proverb. But when it comes to the Church’s cardinals, is that really the case? More specifically, are all the men who got the red hat from Pope Francis moving with him in the same direction? Recent events suggest yet again that not all of Francis’ Read more
German Cardinal Walter Brandmüller (93), a once influential conservative prelate known to be at odds with several aspects of the Francis papacy, has asked that the right to vote in a conclave be limited to those residing in Rome. Brandmüller said that there are too many cardinals who come from faraway places, so they lack Read more
“Over new plan to elect pope, 3 cardinals threaten to quit.” That headline appeared in the October 6, 1972 issue of the National Catholic Reporter. “If insiders’ reports are accurate, Pope Paul is faced with a threatened palace revolt over proposed changes in the procedures used to elect a pope,” wrote Desmond O’Grady, the now-deceased Read more
Pope Francis has significantly changed the composition of the electoral college, even by adding to its number men from countries that had never before had a cardinal. This reflects his push to de-Europeanize the Church and the body that will eventually elect his successor. It is a very important institutional change. But the pope, who Read more
Attacks against Pope Francis are “a fight between those who want the church dreamed of by the Second Vatican Council and those who do not want this,” says the Superior General of the Jesuits. Commenting on various issues where the Pope is currently under attack from his critics, Arturo Sosa SJ says there is no Read more
What took place next inside the Sistine Chapel was hidden from the outside world. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re first explained the voting process and then asked the cardinals if they were ready to vote. They were! Everyone was anxious to do so, as this would reveal where the Holy Spirit was leading them. The first Read more
Typically speaking, about the most important thing any cardinal of the Catholic Church will ever do is to help pick a pope. As a result, one time-honored way of evaluating consistories, the events in which popes create new cardinals, is in terms of what they portend for the choice of that pope’s successor. Applying that Read more
Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini played a decisive role in the 2005 conclave that elected Benedict XVI in order to prevent the election of a “curial candidate”. This is among the recollections of Jesuit Fr Silvio Fausti who was the late Cardinal Martini’s confessor and spiritual guide. Fr Fausti died on June 24, but his views Read more
The 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis is news again now that four cardinals have denied a new book’s claim that they campaigned for Pope Francis to be elected — though the book’s author has clarified the Pope himself was not a part of their supposed campaign. The London-based Catholic journalist Austen Ivereigh, in Read more