Will the Vatican Move Back to the Center After Pope Francis’ Death?

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This morning, the world woke up to the news of Pope Francis passing at age 88. As the Vatican and Catholic Church worldwide prepares for both his funeral and the subsequent conclave to elect a new Pope, many are wondering if there will be a move back to the center now that Francis has passed.

As longtime readers know, we’ve written about Pope Francis on many occasions. We’ve covered the fact that he is an outspoken advocate for climate change, spent a great deal of capital ignoring the very real issues of children targeted by priests, defrocked pro-life priest Frank Pavone, allowed a display of Baby Jesus draped in a keffiyah at the Vatican in 2024, and pushed Western countries (Europe and the U.S. specifically) to accept illegal immigrants no matter the cost. His stances on LGBTQ rights, abortion, and the Latin Mass have also proved to be very problematic for Catholics around the world.

Essentially Pope Francis was one of the most liberal Catholic leaders the Vatican had. Furthermore, he made it abundantly clear that he was not a fan of President Trump.

The Argentine-born Francis’s nearly 12 years in the Seat of St. Peter were marked by repeated swipes at Trump, who won the U.S. presidency twice during his papacy. In early February, just months before his death, the pope wrote to American bishops saying Trump administration policies removing criminal undocumented aliens “will end badly.”

That followed a Jan. 19 pronouncement to Italian television — hours before Trump was sworn in for his second term — that mass deportations of illegal aliens from the U.S. would be “disgraceful.”

~Snip

Bill Donohue, president of the Manhattan-based Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, told The Post that Francis’s papacy will be eyed as a “net minus” because of his uneven approach to US leaders.

“I mean, Trump hadn’t been in office a couple of weeks, and the Pope is lecturing him about immigration, and he never lectured Biden about transgenderism, or about abortion, or about school choice, about a whole range of things, bioethics and the like,” Donohue said.

Francis “admitted in his recent autobiography that the person who had the greatest effect on him, on his politics going up, was an atheist, communist woman. And for him to admit that is rather remarkable,” Donohue noted.

As one looks back on his twelve-year record as Pope, we can also see that the Francis essentially bowed to China, couldn’t get the Vatican budget under control, and demonstrated a blatant animosity towards the American Catholic Church.

So, what is next? The current list of potential papal candidates is interesting and illuminating. Will the conclave elect someone who will continue Francis’s liberal policies or will it be someone who will move the needle back to the center?

It will be interesting for sure, especially since Francis spent twelve years revamping the College of the Cardinals.

Some of the top candidates, ranked by Italian Vatican watcher Gaetano Masciullo and Vaticanists Edward Pentin and Diane Montagna of the College of Cardinals Report website, range from an advocate of “neo-modernist” theological positions to more conservative leaders.

As I read through the list of the top six candidates, I have to say that most of them read as liberal as Francis was. For example:

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, 70

The Vatican’s Secretary of State Parolin, who is Italian, has some conservative positions, but also backed collaboration between the church and Communist China. He’s rated as having a “high chance” of being elected because of his global diplomatic experience.

~and

Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, 66

Aveline, from France, is reportedly Francis’ “favorite” cardinal to succeed him.

He is scholarly and affable, observers say. Masciullo called him a “dangerous contender” for the papacy. He said Aveline “is particularly appreciated” in left-wing ecclesiastical and political camps, and supports “strong decentralization” for the church.

However, other candidates are far more conservative. Such as Cardinal Sarah, whose been an outspoken critic of Francis’ policies, or Cardinal Eijk. Eijk opposes gender therapy and blessings for same-sex couples and is a strong adherent to Catholic doctrine no matter how popular or unpopular his stance is.

Leaders around the world are reacting to the death of Pope Francis.

“Pope Francis has returned to the house of the Father. This news saddens us deeply, because a great man and a great pastor have left us. I had the privilege of enjoying his friendship, his advice and his teachings, which never failed even in moments of trial and suffering,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni posted on X, according to translation. “We greet the Holy Father with hearts full of sadness, but we know that he is now in the peace of the Lord.”

And Vice President JD Vance posted this after having the opportunity to meet with the Pope on Easter Sunday.

It is almost fitting that he was able to do one last public ride through St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday.

The question is, as the Vatican prepares for a funeral and the Papal conclave, what’s next? WHO will be next?

I will leave our readers with this homily from Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

Feature Photo Credit: Pope Francis in 2016 via Flickr, cropped and modified

The post Will Vatican Move Back To Center After Pope Francis Death? appeared first on Victory Girls Blog.

[H/T Victory Girls Blog]



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