The Conclave

Progressives were recently enthralled with a movie called Conclave, released last year. In it, moderate and liberal clergy rally against a conservative prelate who, when the Vatican is subject to a suicide bombing during a Papal conclave, calls for a religious war against Islam. The Cardinal loses to another who lectures the Cardinals about putting politics ahead of their faith. The winner chooses the name Pope Innocent and is revealed to be trans.

Of course they liked it. Members of the press loved it.

So what you’re about to get is Conclave coverage based on the press loving both progressives and a heretical movie. The people who thought The Da Vinci Code is real, see the world in red vs blue, liberal vs conservative framing. So this will be a battle of the liberals against the conservatives and, awkwardly for the white American press, the conservatives are mostly Africans.

The reality is Catholicism is growing best among traditionalists who Francis alienated. The traditionalists have the largest families, give the most to the church, and send the most kids into the priesthood where they perpetuate their conservatism. It will, long term, be hard for any liberal Pope to stem that tide without seeing a real decline in the Catholic Church as the Episcopalians, PCUSA, UCCC, etc. have done within Protestantism. The odds of that happening, however, are low.

Francis alienated a lot of conservatives who gave generously to the Catholic Church and there are serious concerns about the financial solvency of the Vatican. Too many Western journalists cannot get out of their political world to see there is more at stake in the choice of a new pope than just a liberal Pope versus a conservative Pope.

The inarguably liberal Francis did not advance women into the priesthood. Nor did Francis advance gay marriage. In fact, Francis lamented more than once the rampant “F—try” inside the Catholic Church. He said it then publicly apologized for using the gay slur then went right back to doing it again lamenting a gay culture within the Vatican and discouraging the admission of homosexuals into the priesthood, recommending psychologists for them instead.

So liberalism within Catholicism only goes so far except in Germany.

The next Pope will have to deal with the German issue. He’ll have to deal with the Latin Mass issue that Francis tried to stamp out, thereby alienating a lot of donors and conservative Catholic families. He’ll have to deal with the Vatican’s finances. He’ll have to deal with the gay culture in the Vatican that was too much for even a liberal Jesuit Pope from Argentina.

The press saw Francis as a champion of environmental issues, immigration issues, and a stalwart critic of Trump and nationalist tendencies. The New York Times, yesterday, heralded him as a “champion against climate change.” Even on Easter Sunday, much of the American press suggested Francis had limited his time with Vice President Vance because of political views, when we now know just how sick he was.

I am not Catholic, but have a great respect for the church. I have many friends who are deeply rooted in Catholicism and are faithful. They have not been fans of this Pope. They share more criticism of an American press corps that cannot help but make even Catholicism a simple left/right narrative when it is much more complex.

We’re going to get a lot of that simplification.

At the end of the day, even with the Conclave politics the left leaning media fantasizes about with Hollywood trans epics, the reality is this — God is on the throne. He is sovereign. All popes, presidents, and kings are placed in their positions by His sovereign will. Nothing will happen that does not advance the Kingdom of Heaven.