by Anura Guruge
on April 11, 2024
He is currently #4 in MY papabili list.
I am becoming increasingly BULLISH on him.
He can come across as a sensible, pragmatic, CENTRALIST willing to entertain some progressive reform. In this homily he does just that. Bravo. I am chuffed. Way to go Gregory. You are going to do me proud.
by Anura Guruge
on April 3, 2024
They are currently #1b & #4 in MY papabili list.
That Donald Trump will indeed become the Next U.S. President in January 2025 is what is tilting the odds in favor of a U.S. Pope.
What used to be the ‘White House East‘ issue has now been turned upside down on its head. The world is NOT going to be scared that the U.S. will wield too power, they are already concerned that the U.S. will become cease to have a ‘Worldview’. The U.S., under Trump, will become very (maybe ultra) isolationist.
Trump will have no time or respect for a WEAK Pope. Can you see Trump with Tagle? I already have a list of nicknames that Trump will use to describe Tagle if he was to become Pope and say ONE WORD against Trump, his policies or the U.S.
Trump will TOLERATE a U.S. Pope — even IF the new pope is NOT white.
Trump is SMART, v. smart. He will NOT alienate his BASE. He will play nice with a U.S. pope.
The savvy electors (and there are SOME) will know this.
Right now, the Americas have 35 electors. Europe 54. Oceania 3. That is 92. A U.S. pope should be able to get at least 70% of these votes, i.e., 64. That is 22. SHORT of the required 2/3 majority. Africa & Asia have 37 votes. So, a U.S. pope will need 22 of these votes.
But, here is what will happen. MOMENTUM. O’Malley or Gregory will garner momentum. I feel more and more confident.
I could be wrong. I could be DEAD wrong. But, you can see how and what I am THINKING.
by Anura Guruge
on April 1, 2024
He is currently #4 in MY papabili list.
But, he could quite easily leapfrog to the TOP. He has AGE on his side. Goldilocks. Not too old. Not too young. SAME AGE as Pope Francis when he was elected in 2013.
We, the Americans, should mount a campaign to get him elected. I am going to do what little I can.
Ironically, one of his competitors is Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, the Archbishop of Boston. O’Malley, however, is 3-years older. He will be 80 this June. But, he is white — albeit bearded (which is a slight negative).
Gregory will NOT be the first black pope (from what we know). There has been, in the early days, at least one pope from Africa. We, however, don’t know how dark he was. But, as with Obama, Gregory’s color could be a bonus.
So, come on, let’s all root for an American Pope — Wilton Gregory.
by Anura Guruge
on March 28, 2024
My LIST. My choices. My criteria.
You do not have to agree. That is perfectly fine by me. I respect your opinion (even if I think you may be wrong).
I have given this more thought than most of you appreciate.
Wilton Gregory can pull together quite the coalition — support from many geographies. He is not a hardliner. His age, at 77, is Goldilocks — not too old, not too young.
I am COMFORTABLE with him at #4 in MY LIST.
It will be SO NEAT IF he keeps his name and opts to be ‘Gregory XVII‘.
by Anura Guruge
on March 17, 2024
As you can see I did a post on this nearly 2-years ago! But, I still come across skeptics.
Yes, for over a decade I was in the FOREFRONT of those saying ‘No U.S. Pope’. But, that was then, and this is NOW.
The problem used to be the ‘Eastern White House‘ & the ‘Western Vatican‘, i.e., an American as Pope (in the Vatican) & a Catholic as U.S. President in Washington, D.C.
Well, John F. Kennedy, in 1961, overcame the first hurdle, i.e., a Catholic as U.S. President. We have now had a second, the current president ‘Joe Biden‘. So, that part of the problem, ‘Western Vatican’, is no longer a concern.
And now in 2024 the World (and with that many of the Cardinal Elector (Kenya’s shameless ‘John (Idi) Njue‘ always the exception) appreciates that U.S. is not the absolute Superpower it was once seen as being. Ukraine, Gaza, NATO, etc. have illustrated that there is theory and practice. Plus, there is also now China and to a lesser extent India. A U.S. Pope will not be seen as adding EXTRA clout to the power wielded by the U.S.
Simple as that.
by Anura Guruge
on March 14, 2024
It wasn’t as productive & helpful as I had hoped. This is why I stay away from AI — other than using it, via ‘Amazon’, to create AUDIOBOOKS.
It took two efforts before Gemini would cooperate. First time around it said that it had no data!
Co-Pilot, to their credit, indicates their sources. That proved to be disappointing. All 8 names were from just ONE online post — from ‘ItalyStart.com‘.
Well you can see what I think.
I liked that Schonborn came up, as did Ouellet. They are HIGH on MY LIST. SMILE.
by Anura Guruge
on March 1, 2024
‘Mark G.‘, a trusted friend and invaluable, near two decade collaborator, send me the link to the above ‘The Pillar‘ article a few minutes ago.
It shook me to the core.
OK. Let’s get it straight. This is a HOPE. A wet dream. It is not a leak.
It is clickbait.
It is STUPID.
It has NO MERIT.
That it will prevent the electors from making knee-jerk reactions is invalid — flawed assumption.
Once in conclave the electors are totally shielded from what folks are saying or agitating outside. That is the whole point of getting them IN CONCLAVE. Get them away from distractions.
2 rounds of balloting a day was introduced in 1621.
4 round a day in 1904.
The optional 1 round on Day 1 in 1986.
We now want to go back to what it was pre-1621.
Beyond STUPID. Regressive. A wet-dream.
As some of you may have worked out from some of my recent posts (e.g., this & that) I am doing work on the ‘2024 conclave’. SMILE.
I have actually come to TWO solid conclusions:
1/ The 2024 conclave, like the last 4, will also be a QUICK, SHORT conclave. It will most likely be done within 3 days — at most 4. It will NOT go to ‘run-off‘. It will not even make it to the first ‘time-out‘ after the 4th day.
WHY: Both camps know that they do NOT have the votes to get one of their hardliners elected. Each side has more than enough votes to continually BLOCK a hardliner. Quite a few of the electors are quite savvy. They know have already WHIPPED the votes. So, it has to be a COMPROMISE candidate that will not get blocked. They are going AGREE beforehand, possibly even ahead of the sede vacante, as to a very SHORTLIST of 4 to 5 candidates. {Laws be damned. We know that the laws were flagrantly violated by the ‘St. Gallen Group‘, per their own admission, in 2005 & 2013.} They will whittle this down when they are all in Rome. There are all not adversaries at each other’s throats. There will be go betweens.
2/ Very good chance that the Next Pope will be OLD, close to 80, if not even slightly older. Nothing that over 80 cardinals are ineligible. Nothing that says only those in conclave can be elected. For that matter nothing that says that the pope elect as to be a cardinal. These electors, in particular, are USED to over 80 popes! Think about it. None of them has served a pope who did NOT live past 80. They have served an over 80 pope for 7 years. Think about.
THINK. THINK. THINK.
by Anura Guruge
on January 15, 2024
WOW! This blew my mind.
Yes, it could be wishful thinking. Aspirational etc., etc.
But, it indicates that in his mind he thinks he will be around as pope well into Fall. Seven or eight months from now. He very well could be. It would make him the SECOND OLDEST Pope we know of. As I have said before, it would be cool to see him become the 2nd oldest.
This means I don’t have to devote that much time & energy on ‘Next Pope‘ stuff over the next few months. I have plenty of time. I am NOT complaining. I can do with more time.
So, that is INTRIGUE #1. That Francis, in his mind, thinks he will be Pope come September/October 2024. Good for him.
The 2nd INTRIGUE is that he has finally overcome his FEARS to go back!
It is NO SECRET that he has major detractors, many of them Senior/Influential politicians (some in power), back in Argentina. This is why he never went back earlier, though he has visited countries all around.
No secret. He was not WELCOME by some. Now he thinks he can … & that he will … go back.
Fascinating. Let’s hope it works out.
Fingers crossed.
by Anura Guruge
on December 22, 2023
When I was updating my Cardinal Elector spreadsheet his name & credentials jumped out at me. Papal Nuncio to the (ever so important) U.S. since 2016. 7-years. That for a nuncio is a fair chunk of time. As far as I can see he hasn’t put a foot wrong, either in the U.S. or in Rome, during that time. That is good. He also has had stints in Brazil, Cuba and Africa. Plus the Holy See representative to the U.N. SO, it would appear that he might be able to cobble together votes from France, U.S., Brazil, Cuba, Africa and the curia.
He is also not too old or too young! He will be 78 in January 2024. That was the age that Benedict XVI was elected in 2005. Francis was 76.2 & John XXIII was 76.9. So, he can’t be ruled out as being too old.
Think about it. Mull it over. Do some research. Let me know.
Available from Amazon & Apple Store, worldwide.
by Anura Guruge
on December 19, 2023
Its goal & intent should be fairly obvious.
It is an ‘Index’ (or ‘Redirect’) page to OTHER papacy related pages I intend to creat.
I have already created one — ‘Next Pope‘.
Plan is to CONSOLIDATE all my ‘pope’ related data & posts in these pages to permit easy, logical access.
Please check it out. I have a lot more to do. THANKS.
