by Michael Snyder, End Of The American Dream:
The death of Pope Francis has created a firestorm of speculation about the next pope. There is no clear frontrunner, and all sorts of names are being thrown around. Many liberal Catholics are hoping for another liberal pope that will be able to continue the legacy of Francis, while many conservative Catholics are desperate for a conservative pope that will move the Vatican in a very different direction. Meanwhile, a controversial document that was discovered in the Vatican archives in the sixteenth century known as “the Prophecy of the Popes” is getting a ton of attention on social media. Many are suggesting that the pope that will soon be elected will actually be the last pope before the return of Christ.
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I will try to take this one step at a time.
On Monday, it was being reported that Pope Francis died “of a cerebral stroke and irreversible heart failure”…
Pope Francis died of a cerebral stroke and irreversible heart failure, the Vatican’s top doctor said Monday. Francis was 88.
The stroke led to a coma and “irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse,” Dr. Andrea Arcangeli, the head of the Vatican’s health department, said in a statement reported by multiple news outlets.
Francis died Monday at 7:35 a.m. at the Casa Santa Marta guesthouse at the Vatican where he lived.
Francis is being remembered as a “reformer” that often said very controversial things.
For example, just a few months ago Francis publicly declared that all religions “are paths to God” during a visit to Singapore…
“All religions are paths to God. I will use an analogy, they are like different languages that express the divine,” Francis said during a September trip to Singapore. “But God is for everyone, and therefore, we are all God’s children.”
Francis broke with traditional Catholic teaching in many other areas as well.
Now a new pope will be elected, and according to ABC News that process usually begins “between 15 to 20 days after the pope’s death”…
It’s also during the interregnum that all cardinals under the age of 80 who are eligible to participate are summoned to Rome to prepare for the secret conclave inside the Sistine Chapel to choose the next pontiff, a gathering that typically commences between 15 to 20 days after the pope’s death. The cardinals spend the interregnum housed in private rooms in the Domus Marthae Sanctae — essentially a residence hotel in the Vatican with dining facilities that usually houses visiting clergy and laity. Per tradition, the cardinals are cut off from the outside world, including televisions, phones, computers and newspapers.
The College of Cardinals will cast as many as four ballots in a single day for the next pope, with a two-thirds majority required to elect a pontiff. After each vote, the ballots are burned and smoke is released from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney as a signal to the throngs holding vigil in St. Peter’s Square. Black smoke — fumata nera in Italian — indicates an inconclusive vote, while white smoke — fumata bianca — will signify that a new pope has been elected. If three days pass with no pope elected, voting can be suspended for a day to allow the cardinals time for reflection before the next round of ballots are cast.
This upcoming conclave is going to be fascinating to watch, because at this stage nobody knows who is going to win.
Right now, more money is being bet on Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin than anyone else. He is currently the Vatican’s Secretary of State, and he is considered to be very “influential”…
The Vatican’s influential top diplomat and a popular moderate, he has recently been installed as the bookmakers favourite. Like his boss, the 70-year-old has espoused a liberal worldview and recently said he was hoping for “an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people”, and also urged Europe to “rediscover itself” in order to be able to face the “major challenges” of the era, in a recent interview.
Parolin is one of three leading contenders named “Peter”, and he would be the first Italian pope since 1978.
The other leading contender is Cardinal Luis Tagle…
Tagle, 67, has been dubbed the “Asian Pope Francis”, because his views largely align with the late Pontiff.
He has criticised the Church’s “severe” stance on gay people, divorcees and single mothers.
Tagle is the seventh cardinal ever from the Philippines and, if picked, would become the first Asian Pope.
One expert claims that Tagle was once “Pope Francis’s favourite to succeed him”, but it appears that his age may work against him…
Edward Pentin, a Vatican expert and the author of The Next Pope: The Leading Cardinal Candidates, said: “Five or six years ago, he was Pope Francis’s favourite to succeed him. He’s head of the important new super-dicastery for evangelisation. He’s quite a strong contender. And he’s still relatively young,”
His age may count against him, however – cardinals are wary of appointing a relatively young man because his papacy could last decades, thwarting their own ambitions and squeezing their chances of one day being elected.
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