Click to ENLARGE. News stories from ‘Google News‘.
Basically, what Cardinal Parolin & I are both saying is that it is unlikely that the Next Pope, even if he is NOT a ‘Francis II‘ (e.g., American Burke), will overturn ALL the reforms enacted by Francis. The best that might happen is that he might AGAIN (a la Benedict XVI) relax the barriers to celebrating the Latin Mass. I am sure the other reforms will remain on the books due to the respect that new popes pay to their predecessors. This has to do with the decorum exercised by modern popes. Quickly overturning prior reforms look undignified. And that is the rub.
IF the Next Pope is a traditionalist he is unlikely to have too much time. A non-Francis II will only get enough votes if he is seen as a compromise, caretaker pope — not likely to hang around for much more than 7 to 8 years. While that may sound like a lot, that probably isn’t enough leeway to OVERTURN Francis’ reforms without making Francis look real bad.
IF a Francis II is elected, the whole issue is moot. I have a feeling that Francis will hold another cardinal creating consistory in August or September this year & create 20 to 22 cardinal electors. IF he does that (& Parolin might already know of the pope’s plans) it is GAME OVER. The Next Pope will be Francis II — possibly even Tagle!
So, that is the lay of the land. If the next pope is NOT a Francis II we might see some slack cut on Latin Mass. But, that will be about it. But, as ever, I could be wrong.
Click to ENLARGE. News story snippets from ‘Google News‘.
Never mind what Jesus would say.
I am more interested in what John Paul II or John XXIII would have said. Or even ‘Paul VI’, ‘John Paul I’ or ‘Benedict XV’ (not XVI).
I am nonplussed.
Yes, in May of last year some had started to worry that he might become “Putin’s Pope”.
I have often said that Francis is very like Trump!
There are a couple of ‘S’ words that readily spring to my mind as I sit here stewing about Francis and this stupid statement. One of these ‘S’ words is SENILE.
You could easily call John Paul II the ASTUTE POPE. He was that.
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.
Click image to access the full article on ‘NCR‘. Google for more coverage.
I am NOT an advocate of papal resignations. I think it detracts from the office.
Francis has talked about the possibility of him retiring since more of less day 1 of his office. But, most (if not ALL) of us who are serious Vaticanologist KNEW he would never resign while Ex-Pope ‘Benedict XVI’ was alive. Well, that is no longer an impediment.
Yes, Pope Francis at 86 is OLD & is now the 3rd OLDEST pope in recorded history. He doesn’t look or act happy. Also take a look at the photo above. He has put on a LOT of weight. Yes, lack of mobility has to be an issue.
I get a feeling, & as always I could be very wrong, that he is frustrated. He doesn’t like being incapacitated & not being able to do his job. But, I hope he does NOT resign. Definitely NOT on Feb. 28. That would create a dangerous precedent. February 28 the day when popes resign. That will NOT do.
Click image to access the full article on ‘CNA‘. Google for more coverage.
This will be the 4th year in a row that Pope Francis has opted for a private Lenten retreat. The pope going to a Lenten retreat, away from Rome, with the heads of the Vatican dicasteries was a fond, much anticipated tradition started by Pope Pius XI (1922 — 1939). So, it is a practice going back close to a century.
That the pope, because of COVID, opted for a private retreat in 2022 & 2021 is understandable.
In 2020 he stayed back because he was suffering from a bad cold — & COVID was beginning to raise its ugly head.
Obviously this year the impediment, indubitably, also has to be health. And that is what makes you — or more to the point I — start to wonder.
Is the pope slowly getting ready to announce his retirement?
Yes, there was plenty of talk & speculation on this matter last year — some of it prompted by the pope himself.
But all of us with some understanding of the papacy & the Vatican knew that Francis would not retire while ex-pope Benedict XVI was still alive. Having two ex-popes would have been too much for the Church.
But, now Benedict XVI is gone — & the one month anniversary will be next week.
Benedict XVI resigned on February 28, 2013.
February 28 is just 5 weeks away.
I sure hope he doesn’t retire on February 28.
That will create a terrible precedent, February 28 becoming the accepted day for contemporary popes to retire.
I get a feeling Francis is discouraged by his health. He isn’t the happy fellow he was in 2013. The papacy has taken its toll on him.
Per then ‘Cardinal Ratzinger‘ their initial connection was a mutual love for music, in particular the piano. They played the piano to each other & together. He referred to her as his muse. Way before he became pope, she moved into his apartment in Rome. It was rationalized as her being his housekeeper. She was, always, way more than that; the muse part closer to the truth. When he became pope she moved to the Papal Apartments and was officially part of the papal household. As started in the (way too brief) Wikipedia entry she even had a post in the crucially important ‘Secretariat of State‘.
She was his collaborator & confidante & has been openly credited as having edited the books he published during their association. She was in essence, the ‘Benedict XVI’ equivalent to “Pius XII’s“, ‘Popessa‘, ‘Pascalina Lehnert’, though their relationship probably wasn’t as long as the 41-years that Lehnert devoted to ‘her pope’.
During Benedict XVI’s papacy, Stampa was adept at keeping a low-profile vis-a-vis the media though she got implicated in the ‘Vatileaks‘ debacle.
She was never mentioned, as far as I know, as being a part of the ex-pope’s household in the converted monastery. She might have been, & it was kept secret.
For a decade or more Benedict had two very close confidantes both living with him — Stampa & his (other) secretary Georg Ganswein. Given that he was male, Ganswein never needed to be kept out of sight. Well it is well known that Georg was with the ex-pope right to the end & played a key role in the funeral. But then there was also these two ladies in black who sat in the front row, alongside Ganswein at the St. Peter’s Mass & at the private ceremony in the crypt. I am sure one of them was Stampa.
Click image to access the full article on ‘Yahoo News‘. Google for more coverage.
The most basic definition of an antipope is a person of standing (i.e., one of prominence) who is actively in opposition to the reigning pope (in this case ‘Francis‘).
A January 9, 2023 UPDATE & CLARIFICATION.
[Based on the Jan. 9, 2023 comments by ‘Mark’ let me update & clarify the above statement. Per Mark an antipope MUST ‘actually CLAIM’ the papacy (as opposed to being in (open) opposition to the pope — WITH a following). The CLAIMING part has not always been the case. Some of the NEW LIST of early antipopes, e.g., ‘Natalius‘, never claimed to be pope per se. They just vehemently opposed the pope & HAD A FOLLOWING. I think we could all agree that a person who creates enough of a SCHISM, whether or not he actually did so by claiming to be pope, could (or should) qualify as an antipope. That was the criteria for some of the early popes. They split the Church.
Now note I never said the ex-pope was an antipope.
Title says ‘borderline‘. Doesn’t say he crossed it.
Also, I say ‘… class the ex-pope an outright antipope is …‘.
So, that part is clear. I have never (as yet (at least)) never said the ex-pope was an antipope.
The ex-pope Benedict XVI, whichever way you try to rationalize it, is an anomaly.
With the ex-pope it wasn’t a question of whether he ever tried to RECLAIM the papacy, more a question of whether he, 100%, relinquished his role as pope! Think about it. Though he resigned/retired he tried to look & be like ANOTHER pope. The media repeatedly talked about the ‘Two Popes’. There is even a widely watched movie, released in 2019′ called ‘The Two Popes‘. So, he didn’t have to claim to be pope, he continued to be VIEWED as one & he never REALLY tried to put a stop to that. He continued (v. irregularly) to insist on wearing white. He (ludicrously) maintained his regnal name. He insisted on staying on at the Vatican. He ‘promised’ that he would spend his retirement in prayer & meditation. That, alas, was not the case. One could even say he lied! So … This is an ex-pope whose background, behavior, motives & actions will get increasingly more scrutinized in the future. He was NO SAINT. 100 years from now, if people still care, I have a feeling, that his retirement will get deemed by some to have been antipopish. Time will tell.
The ex-pope had a following that refused to accept his resignation. That created a MINOR schism.
There is now talk that the more conservative Catholics (mainly in the U.S.) will peel off — i.e., another potential schism.
The ex-pope, one way or another, indubitably, created tension & problems for the reigning pope. Ganswein words CONFIRM THAT.
So, bottom line, I feel very justified in calling this ‘borderline antipopish‘.
END OF UPDATE.
Well it was never a secret that the ex-pope, renowned for being an arch-conservative & a scholarly theologian, didn’t always see eye-to-eye with the much less educated Francis, with his liberal tendencies. Now Georg Ganswein, in his book (to make another quick-buck) amply confirms this. It is even said, that he writes that they ‘butted heads‘.
That is antipope territory for sure.
The only reason that one wouldn’t class the ex-pope an outright antipope is that his criticism & opposition to Francis was muted in public, i.e., they butted heads privately trying to keep the gory details of their disagreements away from the media & public. If not for that ex-pope Benedict XVI would sure qualify as a modern day antipope.
The U.K. ‘BBC’, who should no better, had an article yesterday where they were speculating on what role the Camerlengo will play when it comes to the passing of EX-POPE Benedict XVI.
The Camerlengo will NOT play ANY ROLE when it comes to the passing of Ex-Pope Benedict XVI.
The Camerlengo BETTER NOT play ANY ROLE when it comes to the passing of Ex-Pope Benedict XVI.
EX-POPE Benedict XVI is NOT A POPE.
It is like being pregnant. You are either pregnant or you are NOT.
Not sure why folks have such a hard time grasping this notion.
