Pope Francis at 83 spent 7 tireless years to promote a reform that the vast majority of cardinals approved on his election in 2013. Still much remains
to be done, and the years humanly speaking are not enough.
Who will inherit the world's most powerful religious position after Francis either retires or dies? He himself said several times he would rather
retire and would not wait until the end of his earthly days.
The opposition from the far right is tremendous, with handful of cardinals and bishops blasting powerful articles online to defend the old status quo.
Archbishop Vigano the former ambassador to the US spares no effort to paint in black not only any idea of a reform but also the already achieved
non-medieval status quo that according to his views is a transgression from the tradition.
On the other side, the German bishops who seem to be the champions of the reform, gather for their 2 year synodal path where in sessions they will
decide on questions such as married priests, homosexuals, role of women in Church with possible deaconate, role of the laity. They are branded by the
conservatives as already being "heretics" although no formal decisions are made so far. The pope on contrary warned the conservatives that he is not
afraid of a Schism, as a result of their unending attacks on the reform.
So...with the clock ticking literally, we are infront of several options for the next successor of apostle Peter, who appears to be one of the most
powerful men on earth, and not only in a religious perspective.
1. Will there be a more liberal cardinal elected as the next pope, such as one of the German reformers, or Latin American who will surpass the current
pace of reform?
2. Will there be a more conservative one, such as cardinal Sarah who currently serves in the Vatican liturgical office and demands things go back at
least in the holy mass, and who enjoys vast support among the US conservatives?
3. Will there be a cardinal from a populist Catholic country such as Philippines (where the catholicism is rather a national pride and not so much a
religious thing, as it were in Poland during the election of John Paul II), who will pay not so much attention to the division conservatives -
liberals rather pursue an agenda more fit for the third world?
4. Will there be a Vatican insider, such as the secretary of state cardinal Parolin, who will assure Francis-2 term, and we will see the current slow
reform prolonged for the next one-two decades, given his younger age?
5. Or will the unthinkable happen, the election of a non-cardinal for a first time for many centuries? (there were historical precedents though). In
that case, everything is possible, because we cannot judge for a person we do not know, unlike the current front-runner cardinals who are relatively
well known.
What are your views?
(Please, keep your posts in formal respect to the Catholic Church's 1.3 bln people, with appropriate non-vulgar language, even if you condemn many
faults such as the pedophilia. The current thread is not about the pedophilia that is criticized by all of the above parties regardless of the
division between themselves. Thank you!)edit on 12-7-2020 by 2012newstart because: (no reason given)