April 21, 2025
Francis Critics, Conservatives Among the Top Candidates to Be Next Pope
by Kurt Zindulka
Breitbart.com
In the wake of Pope Francis’ passing on Easter Monday, the Catholic Church will begin the process of selecting the next Bishop of Rome, thereby setting the future course of the Church and its 1.3 billion followers.
Within 15 to 20 days of the death of the Pope, a conclave of the College of Cardinals will be convened within the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, where they will hold a secret ballot vote to elect the next Pontifex Maximus of the Church.
During his 12 years at the helm of the Church, Pope Francis placed a heavy focus on social justice issues, such as tolerance towards the so-called LGBTQ community, climate change, and mass migration, in what some regarded as a split from Church doctrine.
Francis also had a significant impact on the makeup of the College of Cardinals, having selected approximately 80 per cent of the cardinals who will be eligible to vote for the next Pope.
Rather than selecting from large archdioceses such as those in cities like Los Angeles and Milan, Pope Francis focused on selecting cardinals from the periphery of the church, particularly in Africa and Asia, with a focus on those with a “pastoral” background.
The extent of the lasting impact of such moves will be put to the test in the conclave, where cardinals will determine whether to select a successor in line with the progressive vision of Pope Francis or whether to return to a more conservative perspective, represented by some of the leading contenders to become his replacement.
Any baptized Roman Catholic male is eligible to be pope, but since 1378, only cardinals have been selected. A cardinal who is considered a possible candidate to be pope is often referred to in the media as “papabile” or able to be pope (or in the plural form, these cardinals are called the “papabili”). Who these contenders may be is, of course, entirely speculative because the conclave process is not a public contest.
A popular saying in Rome goes, “He who enters the conclave as pope leaves as a cardinal,” indicating that the papal selection is not merely a popularity contest, but rather one guided by Divine Providence.
http://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/04/21/francis-critics-conservatives-among-the-top-candidates-to-be-next-pope/
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