by Anura Guruge
on September 22, 2022
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Popes can indeed do things, BIG THINGS, by just SAYING they THOUGHT about it, i.e., make changes just by THINKING. A pope, most certainly, would be able to declassify any document — in the Vatican Secret Archives or otherwise — by just SAYING that in his mind he declassified it. Popes have awesome powers. Not sure whether a U.S. President, even Trump, had or has such powers.
One of the very BIG DEALS that a pope can do, just by THINKING about it, is that of creating a CARDINAL. Creating a cardinal is a BIG DEAL in the Church. They are the Princes Of the Church. There is a process & ceremony (i.e., a consistory) for the creation of cardinals. BUT, a pope can short-circuit this process (albeit, at the front end). He can create a cardinal by CLAIMING that he — at some point in the past — THOUGHT about creating that cardinal. He can say this down the road — backdating the creation of that cardinal by ANY number of years. It is a magical thing. The pope just says “I created ‘so-&-so’ a cardinal, in my heart, on April 1, 2018“. And this is irrefutable. Gospel. Neato.
So, I suspect Trump thinks he was pope.
But, here is the crazy thing. Trump will make an EXCELLENT Pope. And yes he is ELIGIBLE. I will talk about that in another post.
Mr G,
You bring up an interesting point. I think in the past, though, when popes have created cardinals “in pectore”, haven’t they announced that they have done so at the time of a consistory? Whether they ultimately reveal the name in the future or not depends on the future circumstances.
Maybe popes should make a policy of always having at least one “in pectore” creation announced to give hope to all those that feel they are not getting their due…
Yes, eventually they have to make it known at a consistory — though there are no laws or limits as to when the pope has to disclose it. There certainly is no obligation that a pope has to disclose an in pectore at the very next consistory.
Yes, LIKE YOU, I have speculated & written that popes can play games with in pectore if they so wish. They can create some empty placeholders & add in names at will down the road.
Well, my point is that a pope can do many great things just by saying he thought about. Even a motu proprio is an extension of that — basically ‘this is what I think’ & it doesn’t matter, because it is THE LAW because I think so. It is nice to be pope as more than one pope has commented.
Trump would love being pope. He would be a great pope. Wouldn’t you agree. Nothing barring him from being pope.
Thanks. Cheers. Pax. Anura