A very special birthday to a very special man — who until last year was the ‘man with no birthday‘.
I, of course, felt BAD for him. Everybody should have a birthday. So, I assigned him, ‘April 1’, a very special day for I, as his official birthday. NO, he was NOT gracious enough to thank me. {But, I did not expect it from him.}
Well, it appears that he, MIRACULOUSLY, discovered his Birth Certificate. He claims that it got erroneously filed — of all places — Hawaii. Yes, his birth certificate, he claims, was found in Hawaii. You go figure.
The Vatican had initially assumed that the birth certificate pegged his birthday as December 31, 1944.
Ooops! NO. Big Mistake. He is much, much, much youger.
His birth certificate supposedly says he was born December 31, 1954. He is still just a baby. Just 70 years old.
Click to ENLARGE. From one of my ‘magic’ papal excels.
The 2 keywords of note here are ‘recorded history‘. When it comes to papal birthdays, papal history only goes back to 1400. The birthdates of popes prior to 1400 are either unavailable or unreliable. Hence, any meaningful age-related claims as to popes have to be ‘as of 1400’. Don’t let anyone fool you into saying ‘oldest … pope‘. We just don’t know.
Francis became the 3rd OLDEST pope as of 1400 on December 30, 2023.
Francis could become the 2nd OLDEST KNOWN on Oct. 17, 2024.
So, to be fair, this 87th birthday, though a BIG deal, didn’t change his standings in the ‘noldest pope‘ stakes.
So, he has been 3rd oldest close to a year. He still has 11-months to go before the next HUGE milestone — and that is a tad out there in the future. If he makes it that would be quite the thing. Kind of WILD. I HOPE HE WILL. That will be a landmark for all of us to witness.
We have had 64 popes since 1400, & of those 64 Francis is the 3rd oldest.
Francis’ predecessor, who resigned in 2013, i.e., Benedict XVI, will remain in #5; John Paul II who was the previous will be at #8.
So, the last 3 popes will, respectively, hold the #3, #5 & #8 spots (as of 1400) — from among 64 popes.
IF Benedict XVI had not resigned, he, at 95, would have been the OLDEST pope as of 1400. That is a sobering thought.
Just two years ago Francis was at #7. He has been going up in the rankings fast.
But, given that he was elected quite old, i.e., 76.2 years (9th oldest since 1400 & 4th 76 old to be elected), his reign as pope is only 10.76 years. That is respectable but nowhere close to being a record.
He is currently #70 (out of 267).
So, not even halfway. So, he has a long ladder to climb to get up those rankings. 11 popes have reigned for 11-years!
Click to ENLARGE. From one of my ‘magic’ papal excels.
The 2 keywords of note here are ‘recorded history‘. When it comes to papal birthdays, papal history only goes back to 1400. The birthdates of popes prior to 1400 are either unavailable or unreliable. Hence, any meaningful age-related claims as to popes have to be ‘as of 1400’.
Francis became the 3rd OLDEST pope as of 1400 on December 30, 2023.
So, he has been 3rd oldest close to a year. He still has 11-months to go before he becomes the 2nd KNOWN OLDEST. That is quite the thing. Kind of WILD.
We have had 64 popes since 1400, & of those 64 Francis is the 3rd oldest.
Francis’ predecessor, who resigned in 2013, i.e., Benedict XVI, will remain in #5; John Paul II who was the previous will be at #8.
So, the last 3 popes will, respectively, hold the #3, #5 & #8 spots (as of 1400) — from among 64 popes.
IF Benedict XVI had not resigned, he, at 95, would have been the OLDEST pope as of 1400. That is a sobering thought.
Just two years ago Francis was at #7. He has been going up in the rankings fast.
I thought he, i.e., ‘Clint Eastwood‘ (THE STAR of the show), was in his late 80s. I was wrong. He was born in 1930. So, he was 90 (at least) when he made this ‘OK’ (but far from great) movie. The problem is that it SHOWS! It is painful at times to WATCH. Don’t get me wrong. I applaud him. Amazing achievement. I am in awe. I am in awe of everybody — & anybody — older than I, since I know what it is like to be as old as I.
I am happy for him.
It is just that it gets kind of embarrassing to watch him.
He looks like ‘Joe Biden‘ — & that is one heck of an indictment on our aging President in that Clint is 10-years older.
I watched both ‘Gran Torino‘ (2008) & ‘The Mule‘ (2018) — starring him (again) — & enjoyed them. In the latter he was three-years younger & that shows.
I feel bad saying anything bad about this movie, BUT I honestly did find it PAINFUL to watch him.
In 2020, in some of the BATTLEGROUND STATES, e.g., Georgia, the margin of victory was only around 11,000 voters. That is NOT MUCH.
The demographics in 2024 will be SLIGHTLY different to that of 2020. Yes, SLIGHTLY. But, we are here talking only about SLIGHT margins.
Some of the OLDER Trump voters will not be around.
A whole batch of NEW VOTERS will be on the scene.
Again, I stress that we are NOT talking large numbers, but it doesn’t have to that.
I am sure the campaigns have got this all figured out & analyzed — but I haven’t heard people talking about this as an IMPORTANT factor to REMEMBER. Hence this post.
A very special birthday to a very special man — until this year, the ‘man with no birthday‘. Thank Francis, Trump & God that is now history. He finally has a birthday, a very very becoming one at that, April 1. This will also be his last birthday as a cardinal elector. Next year he will turn 80 on April 1, 2024 (Kenya time).
Happy Birthday Cardinal. Have a ball. You earned it.
I am in NO WAY saying that this is the earliest known birthday for a cardinal.
I am ONLY documenting this because I happened to, serendipitously, stumble upon it last night. I was NOT doing a systematic search. I was just PECKING around seeing what I may find. I started with those created in the 14th century because I KNEW the birthdate of one cardinal from that era, Dec. 31, 1378. That was a famous Spanish ‘Borja’ cardinal who went onto become ‘Callistus III‘ in 1455. I had a hunch that I would have better luck with French cardinals. He was the 2nd I happened to click on. SHEER chance. I haven’t looked any further.
There could be EARLIER birthdays. I do NOT know. I haven’t looked, I am NOT going to go looking. Don’t have the time.
So, this is just to serve as a marker in the sand. We have 1299. We are looking for earlier.
This topic as to the birthdays of cardinals came about because of my, just, annoyance that we, in 2023, have a cardinal without a DESIGNATED birthday. That is a disgrace. So here we have it. We know the birthday of a cardinal born in 1299, BUT we permit one born in 1944 to strut about, like a peacock, saying “I don’t have a birthday“. It is so stupid.
I do NOT buy it for a minute. It is just an AFFECTATION on his part. Shame on the Catholic Church for indulging him in his petty deception.
There is a CRUCIAL reason that he has to have a BIRTHDAY — particularly NOW!
He was born in 1944. Next year he turns 80, thus becoming a non-elector. When will that happen? December 31, 2024. Heck NO. That is NOT fair. That is NOT right.
Just tell us what is on his passport.
He couldn’t have got a passport without stating a birthdate. Not possible. IF he doesn’t know it he would be told to assume one.
Well, I am assigning one to him as of now: April 1, 1944.
He thinks he can continue to fool us. Well he can fool the ever gullible & feckless Catholic Church BUT I am not buying his nonsense. As far as I am concerned April 1 is the PERFECT birthday for him.
When he was created a cardinal in August 2022 I thought he was (at 71) a tad too young to be papabile. I still think that he is a couple of years too young, BUT for this one possibility — & that is IF Pope Francis resigns. While I do not want him to resign & there are some who are adamant that Francis has too much of an ego & AN AGENDA to entertain resignation, I am reluctant to totally rule it out. While it is no secret that Francis loves being pope, I also think (possibly wrongly) that he is getting increasingly frustrated by having to constantly appear in public looking physically enfeebled. I think that also plays to his ego. He doesn’t want to be remembered as this doddering, wheelchair bound pope.
IF Francis resigns, that changes the age dynamics as to the next pope. Why? Because we would now have had two popes, in succession, that resigned. While, two DOES NOT make a trend, it does leave the door much more open (& amenable) to more future resignations. So, in theory, one doesn’t have to worry about a new young pope ruling for the next 25 years. Instead, one now has the possibility that the next pope MIGHT also opt to resign — after say 15-years — once they are in their early 80s. That is what will change IF Francis resigns — the acceptability of a younger pope WITH the hope that he will not cling onto power until the bitter end decades down the road. While capitulations (i.e., a formal agreement by a papabile to undertake certain obligations (in this case resignation after x years)) are forbidden, I am sure that we are all adult enough to appreciate that ‘informal’ promises are made by those seeking this much sought after office.
Cardinal Arthur Roche, as my 2nd image shows, has been making quite a bit of news of late. While traditionalists, especially the U.S. Catholics, may not like or agree with what he is saying & doing, he definitely appears to be Francis’ new enforcer. That could mean that he could — & should — get the vote from the Francis wing of the cardinal electors. Yes, it is true that they still don’t have the 2/3 majority to shoehorn in the next pope. But, if Roche can get most of the Francis vote he will have some footing to mount a push towards soliciting others to come around.
I also think that the next pope will be a curialist. And Roche has been one for over 10 years now. Plus, he is OLDER than Tagle. So, I am NOT saying that Roche will be the next pope. Far from that. I am just pointing out that IF (& only IF) Francis resigns we should not overlook Roche as a potential papabile. OK? Got that?
