As the Cardinals prepare for perhaps the most important days of their lives, let us, the faithful, keep them in our prayers in a fervent way. The devil is no doubt at work trying to confuse and misdirect their deliberations. The work of the conclave does not just fall on the 135 voting Cardinals, but on all the faithful, as an election of a pope is an ecclesiastical act that draws its purpose from the good of the entire Church. We are all invested in its outcome, so we should all offer our prayers and fasting, that the Holy Spirit will guide the outcome.
That there is a solemn vote in the Sistine Chapel does not in itself make the vote inspired. In fact, I suspect there is a danger for some of the Cardinals to rely too much on the circumstances around the conclave, with its ceremony and majesty, and fail to observe the human factors shaping votes in one direction or another.
I am not a Cardinal, but I have had the privilege of knowing more than a handful of them professionally and personally. I remember one conversation I had with a Cardinal who voted in the last conclave. He did not reveal anything about the internal deliberations of the conclave, but he did, in exasperation to my perhaps excessive probing, say, “Jayd, we didn’t know what we were doing.”
What a statement! A Cardinal admitted that he and some of his brother Cardinals did not know who they were electing.
In the last conclave, the Cardinals knew each other due to regular consistories or other meetings that brought them together. This time, it is widely recognized that the Cardinals do not know each other well. Pope Francis did not call them together, so they could not get to know each other. It seems it was intentional on the Holy Father’s part to keep the Cardinals separated as much as possible.
Why? We can only speculate.
While the Cardinals do not know each other as well as perhaps they should, they have an advantage over the last conclave, at least as I infer from the conversation I reference above and more recent conversations. From the discussions I have had with a wide range of Cardinals, it seems there is an intentionality that did not exist last time. Perhaps after the great Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI, Cardinals presumed everything was in good hands and the Holy Spirit would again identify a strong leader for the Church. What they got when they elected Cardinal Bergoglio, however, seems to be a person much different than what many of the electors expected.
They expected someone with a strong hand to reform the Roman Curia, who would carry on the ecclesiology of John Paul II and Benedict, and witness to the dynamism of a Church alive. This is not the place to review Pope Francis’ record, but it is fair to say his pontificate was something other than what many of the electors expected.
And so, the new electors, most of whom were appointed by Francis, hopefully have learned from history and should know that there is a need to genuinely know who they are electing. This is good news. Rather than allow a small, coordinated effort to shape the early votes of the conclave, there is reason to hope the Cardinals will be less naïve and better prepared to make their own judgements about the qualities of a candidate. They should also, hopefully, be doing their homework now and getting to know their brother Cardinals in a way that will allow them to positively choose a candidate with particular characteristics.
What are those characteristics? It seems to me that, first and foremost, it is someone who can articulate the faith with clarity, which will then be a source of unity for the Church. There is too much confusion today about what it means to be Catholic, which inevitably creates division. There is a soft civil war within the Church today, in large part due to the lack of clarity in teaching and a seeming lack of confidence by some that the Church has a unique claim to the fullness of truth. The world needs clarity that only the Church provides. Sacrificing clarity for “relevance” has not served the Church or the world well.
Considering this, the greatest threat to the Church today comes from within. The uncertainty about what the Church teaches on central matters is a cancer to our faith, as a false notion of the sensus fidelium is being used to obscure the depositum fidei. Our generous invitation to “come and see” has become a doorway to a confused faith. This is the danger of the synodal vision that has dominated so much of the Church’s energy and resources in recent years. Consultation without doctrinal clarity is a recipe for deep divisions, which is what the latest expression of synodality produced.
A synodal church is good in theory, but how it has been pursued in recent years has done more harm than good. The Church is not a democratic institution, and it should not be remade to become one. The sensus fidelium is something that comes from those who believe and strive to live what the Church has taught for 2,000 years. It is not determined by voices that do not believe what the Church teaches. And so it is important for the next pope to more clearly define what synodality means for the universal church and correct how it has been abused to confuse the faithful.
We also need a pope who both personifies the faith with his holiness and is welcoming, but also who can articulate what it is we believe and why. The person need not be able to do this in spontaneous interviews (in which case he should refrain from such things), but he needs to be able to do it through what he formally teaches. He need not be a theologian of the caliber of John Paul II or Benedict XVI, but he needs to have clarity in thought and theological vision. He should stand above the debates that so easily distract us from Christ and our faith. The Catechism is a good place to start, and it should be a central tool in the next pontificate.
The unity of the Church comes from a common faith in Christ and the life he calls us to. When Christ is not the starting place for the faith, the Church becomes something other than what she is. Today, it is sometimes difficult to discern where Christ fits into the life of the Church when sociology or some form of polling seems to often be the starting point. The next pope should be centered in Christ and draw the faithful into a deeper relationship with him. All renewal begins with a deeper conversion to Christ. This is how saints are made, and this is the primary mission of the next Holy Father, the Vicar of Christ.
We also need a pope who understands the challenges of our age. Our internal theological divisions come in large part due to false ecclesiologies that dominated the post-Vatican II era and have, in recent years, been resurrected. Old debates that were dealt with by John Paul II and Benedict XVI have come back from the dead. The next pope should return to the authoritative interpretation of the Council given to us by the two theologian-popes who were deeply involved in the Council. This sort of return is not a turning back of the clock, but a return to the sources that guide the Church into the future. Renewal cannot happen separated from our Sacred Tradition. We hear much about reforming the Church when perhaps what we really need is renewal. Reform implies changing the Church into something different—giving her a new form. Renewal is to make it more of what it is meant to be. Pope Francis is celebrated as the pope of reform, but what we need now is a pope of renewal.
We also need a pope who respects the rule of law. Ecclesiastical law is a gift that guides the Church. It is not good for the law to be dismissed or arbitrarily applied, as has been the case under Pope Francis. And we certainly do not want the impression that favors are given to friends of the pope. A return to the law, which is just, is the first step to authentic curial reform. Without justice under the law, no institutional renewal is possible.
Finally, a Church from the margins is a good thing if what we mean by that is a Church that is a sign of contradiction to our secular age. We see this in various forms and in all cultures. The Church is not expressed in one way, but she does have one faith. It is encouraging to see the Church in poor parts of the world flourishing. There is much to gain from faithful witnesses from the margins, but that witness must be rooted in the one, apostolic faith. What we believe is more important than passing trends.
The next pope, wherever he is from, should be a man who personifies what it is to be a Catholic. Welcoming and compassionate, for sure, but also someone clear about what it means to be Catholic and what Catholics believe. What we need now is a pope from the heart of the Church: a man of profound faith, and a man who can govern and teach with clarity and intent.
Come, Holy Spirit, guide the Cardinal-electors to give us such a man.
(Editor’s note: This essay was published originally on the “What We Need Now” site and is republished here with kind permission of the author.)
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Well written article, a lot more clear than the word salad we have been subjected to the last 13 years.
As for unity, I believe latin should once again become the language of the Church. This way, papal documents cannot be reinterpreted based on what language a country has. It’s amazing how many Catholics still try to defend the idea that blessing two people is really only blessing one.
I agree wholeheartedly: clarity of faith is the seed of unity. In a world increasingly allergic to both clarity and faith, this becomes not just a priority, but a matter of spiritual survival.
Modernity promises us endless connection, but leaves the soul profoundly disconnected—from God, from others, even from itself. The irony is almost divine: we carry the whole world in our pockets, and yet feel more alone than ever. We were promised utopia; we got an algorithmic echo chamber and a distracted heart.
I realize this sounds “anti-modern” (a mortal sin in some circles), and that I risk sounding like a prophet of doom—though I’d prefer to be seen as a reluctant realist. As Jacques Maritain warned decades ago, the absence of metaphysics doesn’t create a liberated mind—it creates a vacuum, into which ideology and entertainment rush like air into a collapsing lung.
The Church must resist becoming merely therapeutic or market-friendly. She must rediscover the scandalous joy of proclaiming the truth: that Jesus Christ is not just relevant—He is reality itself. In Him, we rediscover not only God, but man, history, the cosmos. Without Him, we construct fragile utopias on the quicksand of self-invention.
Pope Francis has tried—with great pastoral creativity—to engage a world that no longer speaks Christianity natively. His gestures, his outreach, his insistence on mercy: these are not to be discarded but deepened. The next Pope must be one who can join this openness to the world with the fire of truth—one who can name things for what they are, and offer not abstraction but encounter.
Because young people, despite what the marketers say, are not dying for novelty. They are dying for meaning. They want a faith that is not merely relevant, but real. One they can give their lives to.
So no, it’s not geography that matters, nor ideology, nor media appeal. The Church needs a Peter who speaks clearly—not because clarity is fashionable, but because clarity is charity. The truth unites because it cuts away illusion. And the world is drowning in illusion.
Christ said the truth will set us free. He didn’t say it would be easy. But it’s still true.
Paolo: Brilliantly said. If we but speak the unvarnished truth not only will the world be better off but we’d be more closely aligned with Jesus Christ.
Anything that is not truth is a lie. Satan is the Father of Lies. Would that there be a single day when everyone spoke nothing but the truth.
A Faithful Pope is one who recognizes that God, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity , Through The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque), Is The Author Of Love, Of Life, And Of Marriage, and thus would be clear in affirming the fact that to render onto Caesar, what belongs to God, by denying The Sanctity and Dignity of human life from the moment of conception to natural death, and The Sanctity and Dignity of The Sacrament of Marriage and The Family, would be apostasy. Apostasy is what apostasy does, it separates a Baptized Catholic from communion with The One Body Of Christ, Through The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque)
Thank you. We pray for a Holy Father. Your title reminds me of: https://ignatius.com/the-reform-of-renewal-rorp/
As a revert who ran after Christ, St. Francis of Assisi set the tone for authentic renewal:
Fidelity to Christ by the repentance from sin.
Obedience to Christ, the Word of God, His Sacred Tradition, doctrines and Church.
Love of Christ crucified, from the leper to the stigmata.
Prayer to Christ in the Eucharistic community and hermitage.
Imitation of the Poor Christ.
Chaste avoidance of all things worldly (lust for money, pleasure, power, glory, honor, fame., etc.)
We need to stop trying to pre-define everyone’s personality and fine-tune ahead of everything happening which part of personality goes where and when it goes there so that it “noticeably stays Catholic in keeping with the running atmospheres”. Come on now.
How Pope Francis treated Bishop Strickland vs how he treated Jesuit Rupnick is nothing short of despicable.
Yes, we all saw the shocking embrace and use of McCarrick, Zanchetta, Martin SJ, that Soros kid, Biden, Pelosi, Bonino, the New Ways legion, et al. vs the Machiavellian manhandling of Cardinals Burke, Müller, Zen, et al.
And yet, the Stockholm Syndrome showing up at the pre-Conclave is sad to see. It would seem that the old nightclub bouncer Bergoglio beat the life out of a lot of these guys.
The man we need now is Robert Cardinal Sarah who meets all of the requirements listed in this article.
May the Holy Spirit of God guide the minds and the hearts of our cardinals to choose wisely because the future of our beloved Church on earth depends on what they do.
“The future of our beloved Church on earth depends on what (the Conclave Cardinals) do.” Nah. A saintly pope would be grand, but the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church is dependent on the Triune God. Ironically, Franciscus helped develop our understanding of this doctrine by his bad example. Next.
Cardinal Sarah would be a wonderful answer to prayer.
Yes, yes, but Cardinal Sarah is so…well, loving. No, with all of the rats out of the sewer, why not a true backwardist, anti-Francis, willing Pope Jerome I? Let him come out of his cave to clean the Curial swamp, prosecute Rupnik, et al. Pope Jerome should take back hats given to men who had no business receiving them. He would act swiftly to remove apostate Ordinaries from diocese, etc. He could cancel the failed Novus Ordo (“We gave it a good try…”.;) to return the Church to the success of the ancient Mass. Etc. Pope Jerome might mercifully dispense from the Latin and allow the vernacular for those of us less gifted with languages.
Then I woke up. Luke 18:8
On this feast of St. Athanasius, perhaps those voting Cardinals who are not well formed theologically will elect a Pope who knows and loves Sacred Scripture, Tradition and the doctrines of the Catholic Faith.
Cardinals cannot be faithful to the papacy if they are not faithful to all previous saintly pontificates.
🙏✝️💕🌹
Challenges facing election of the next pope must include the rascalian [I would dare say some quasi criminal] old guard of Vatican cardinals, who Robert Royal says have been repeating Mercy Mercy Mercy before and after the papal funeral “as if it were a recent and novel discovery by Pope Francis”.
Mercy will be the pretext to sanctify all that Francis has done during 12 years of diluting Christ’s revelation, the command to repent, and penance for the forgiveness of sins as no longer a requisite for salvation. Look for candidates who fit the image of mercy without guilt.
There are some outstanding candidates, though they don’t fit the mold. Take Cdl PierBattista Pizzaballa. A man who offered himself in place of Hamas’ hostages, the Jerusalem patriarch, multi lingual, highly intelligent, biblical scholar, charismatic. Drawback may be his close relationship with Francis, his embrace of Synodality. He hasn’t been outspoken on LGBT rights, considered a ‘soft’ conservative. “Only mercy heals and creates a new world, putting out the fires of distrust, hatred and violence: this is the great teaching of Pope Francis,” (Pizzaballa cited in Crux).
All depends on his precise understanding of both Synodality and his doctrinal perception of mercy. The best we onlookers can do is hope and pray.
The recent novelty in teaching has not been in any failure to retain or repeat truth principals clearly—not in any overt denial, but rather in strategic and subliminal silence and then signaling concrete exemptions.
Alike, when the select example is given as the unquestionably true reference point for a proposition (about being merciful) even though example may be flawed or hasn’t shown actual meaningful result or content, meanwhile anything that would foil the proposition or example, even an alternative example, is made as incongruent for some alleged cause or is ignored “not serving the immediate very needed purpose”.
As with all argument, Modernism can not escape or avoid having some premises.
Regarding the Latin Mass:
I am sure there are those of us who have encountered Catholics who maintain that the Latin Mass is indeed the only valid Mass. These people have perhaps, something to answer for, in regard to the clamping down that has taken place.