It’s a sad ending for Pope Francis. I pray for his soul and trust the Lord has mercy on him, like all of us sinners.
I never expected much from his papacy and given he was elected with the support of the scandalous and homosexual St. Gallen Mafia in the first place, it might have been worse. Pope Francis was supposedly going to clean up the priest abuse scandals in the Church, but these were largely addressed 25 years ago, as victims started winning expensive lawsuits.
What remained were some of the worst offenders, who stuck around because they were in high places, and smart enough not to get involved with men under 18. The defrocked former cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, a St. Gallen ally, was a great example of this.
If anything, the Church went way overboard, paying just about anybody who claimed to be a victim and ruining the reputations of many innocent priests in the bargain. I have written in the past about the disgraceful situation in New Hampshire, where unscrupulous trial lawyers and their friends in law enforcement concocted a frame-up of Fr. Gordon McCrae.
The same thing was done more recently to Australian Cardinal George Pell, whom Pope Francis hired to clean up Vatican finances. Instead, enemies in Rome and Australia concocted a massive frame-up that sent him to jail for a while, before he was resoundingly vindicated upon appeal.
Interestingly, the same issue cropped up in Chicago last month. A massive plot by trial lawyers has been underway there for years to bilk the archdiocese with phony abuse claims. Cardinal Blasé J. Cupich, of all people, found the courage last month to finally stand up to these people, and has filed suit to recover some of these phony claims.
Church of England, who has no convictions whatsoever.)
As the papal conclave meets in the following weeks to find a successor, we can only hope someone with more Christian confidence, better attuned to the real challenges of today, is selected.
Unfortunately, two-thirds of the current College of Cardinals have been chosen by Pope Francis. They are a mostly unimpressive bunch. In the Catholic Church, traditionally, cardinals are promoted from the great archdioceses. But most of those men were not to Francis’ liking.
For example, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez has never made cardinal, though he leads the largest diocese in America. Instead, his very political subordinate, Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego, was given the honor. McElroy was even sent to run the Washington, D.C. diocese, apparently just to tick off President Trump.
Same thing with Archbishop Charles Chaput in Philadelphia, a huge diocese that is considered an automatic for cardinal. But Chaput is one of the Church’s celebrated leaders, so Francis and his cronies were jealous and insecure about elevating him.
Same thing with my favorite prelate, the recently retired Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville. Though our town is not quite big enough to rate an automatic cardinal, Kurtz was a legendary builder of the faith everywhere he went and he led the fight for the religious freedom of the Little Sisters of the Poor against the Obama regime. In any other papacy, this would have made him a hero in Rome. Instead, it got him on Pope Francis’ enemies list.
So, what are the odds someone decent is chosen this time around? There may still be a chance. While the old guard, traditional cardinals like Raymond Burke don’t have the numbers to make a difference at this point, practical necessity may lead to a good choice anyway.
That’s why I am counting on New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a Pope Benedict appointee, to carry the day. Not that an American would be chosen, but I suspect Dolan, the effervescent Irishman and New York dealmaker, may be just the guy who can convince Francis’ cardinals they need to pick a moderate, consensus Pope. Somebody who is done with rocking the boat and ticking off traditional Catholics (i.e., all of us who actually show up on Sunday and contribute).
Most of the cardinals understand as well that the Vatican’s finances are a disaster. A Francis clone would only make this worse.
Even Pope Francis had to recently rein in his most problematic supporters, the German bishops, who are still pushing their 1960s-style gay-friendly agenda. Anyone who has paid the slightest attention in the last 30 years knows this kind of thinking has all but annihilated Mainline Protestantism.
Presumably, in the private sanctuary of the Sistine Chapel, Cardinal Dolan can remind his colleagues of these truths and offer a way forward. We don’t need a great Pope, but it sure would be nice just to have a good one.
Image: Malacañang Photo Bureau/Benhur Arcayan
Jesus Christ is King
