I believe the pope met with the UK PM and one other dignitary the previous day, so he wasn’t denying all visits.

Edit: … and he did meet with Vance the next day.

vance liz truss’d the pope

True but he exceeded the existing bar by a lot.

Yes, but if the next one is a little better, and the next one, and the next one…

The church evolves very slowly.

Speed bump.

Francis was known as a liberal reformer, making headlines across the globe by permitting the blessing of same-sex couples and promoting global action on climate change.

Francis worked as a janitor and a chemical technician in the food-processing industry before entering the seminary.

He was outspoken about clergy abuse and called on the Catholic Church to “act decisively” against paedophile priests just months after his 2013 appointment.

This was tbe same man that said being homosexual isn’t a crime and doesn’t merit persecution for it, albeit by the catholic creed being a sin.

An insult is only as long someone allows it to be.

Downvote away.

I have terrible news for you if you think using a homophobic slur is as bad as anything the previous popes and cardinals have been doing.

Of course the worst pro-russia troll would also troll against catholicism, why am I surprised

52

This comment proves the church’s PR experiment worked.

Conspiracy theorists are so weird… Like do you imagine a smokey room with the pope and a group of cardinals talking about how they want to represent the church in a completely opposite way to how they want it to be? Or is there a “shadow church” that controls it all and the pope is unaware?

Which marvel movie best reflects the situation do you think?

Did you even see the earlier Popes? He did everything you say and yet this guy was liberal by every definition compared to the guy he replaced. Benedict was nasty and he knew it.

homophonic

I think he was the first Pope Francis. But even if he were the second, that wouldn’t make him a homophone.

I guess all popes are homophonic in some languages, like in Spanish “la papa” is potato and “el papa” is pope.

The catch is that he did not appoint by ideology. His appointments were mainly based on the guys doing work for poor people, for migrants, and on them doing their jobs in the global south.

Quite a few of these he made cardinals are somewhat conservative in their views, especially regarding sexuality

Compared to the iron grip the reactionaries held before my understanding is you’re right. That doesn’t mean that wing is going to get away with a continuist choice. I mean, it’s more likely than it used to be, but I’m not making a call until the Habemus Papam.

Cultism is such a potent tendency of the human animal that new cults form spontaneously in the absence of established mythologies (or despite them). Fascism is a cult phenomenon, for instance, and the people vulnerable to such belief systems are unerringly broken in the same way that religious people are broken. It’s like someone scooped out the part of their brains responsible for maintaining epistemic norms and replaced it with oatmeal.

I am very curious to know who “we” is in this context.

Unfortunately that’s not the way it works.

You should know that lots of countries and societies will not do this. Especially in the global south.

much better than anyone before him within the last few hundred years

John XXIII was pretty progressive, wouldn’t you think?

The joke about Vance killing him? I don’t think people mean it as a joke. That’s how the mob-like tactics work. It’s a very real consideration. Organized crime is intertwined deeply in American government and geopolitics.

Shit even the Vatican was wrapped up in mafia stuff in the past and probably still is.

Sorry but I used AI for this;

"The Vatican has been associated with mafia connections, particularly during the papacies of Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. These connections have been linked to financial scandals and criminal activities involving figures like Michele Sindona and Roberto Calvi. Sindona, a reputed international mafia chieftain, was appointed as the Vatican banker by Pope Paul VI, leading to significant financial disasters and frauds. Calvi, the head of Banco Ambrosiano, was also deeply involved in money laundering and had ties to the mafia and the Vatican Bank under the leadership of Archbishop Paul Marcinkus. Marcinkus faced criticism from Pope John Paul II’s inner circle but was protected by the Pope, highlighting the complex relationships within the Vatican during this period.

In recent years, efforts have been made to address these issues. The Vatican created a working group in honor of Rosario Livatino, a Catholic judge killed by the mafia, to study the expulsion of criminal organizations from the Catholic Church. These initiatives reflect ongoing efforts to separate the Church from criminal influences and to promote integrity within its financial and organizational structures.

The Vatican’s financial dealings have long been a source of scandal and embarrassment, contributing to a “black legend” that mars the Church’s image. Pope Francis has been particularly active in reforming Vatican finances, centralizing control over Vatican assets to reduce the risk of corruption and illegal activities.

Despite these efforts, concerns about mafia influence persist, with investigations and arrests involving mafia members and their alleged cooperation with the Vatican Bank."

And trump…

"Donald Trump has been linked to organized crime figures throughout his career. He has been accused of doing business with and receiving favors from the Mafia during his early years as a developer in New York City. For instance, Trump used concrete supplied by companies controlled by the Mafia to build his properties, including Trump Tower, at a time when the concrete industry was under Mafia control.

Trump’s lawyer, Roy Cohn, had ties to several Mafia bosses, and Cohn introduced Trump to some of these figures. Trump also had business dealings with individuals who had connections to organized crime, such as John Staluppi, a “made” member of the Colombo crime family, and Kenneth Shapiro, who worked for Philadelphia mobster Nicodemo “Little Nicky” Scarfo.

In 2013, Trump admitted on David Letterman’s show that he had encountered “characters” associated with organized crime during his time in New York, but claimed he tried to stay away from them.

These allegations have been detailed in various books and articles, including Wayne Barrett’s biography “Trump: The Deals and the Downfall” and a book titled “‘MAFIA’ Don: Donald Trump’s 40 years of Mob ties” by H.B. Glushakow."

Organized crime is a key player in national and geopolitics. It never went away, they got better at it. And corrupted officials got better at hiding them. America is probably currently dominated by organized crime right now.

There are four main rulers of humanity, nations/politicians, organized religions, 1% wealth business, and organized crime. They all mingle and all manipulate the poor and vulnerable to gather followers, soldiers, and sycophants in order to maintain control. It’s very real war happening.

Great post. Holding the leash on the next Pope would be a huge strategic coup for the MAGA Nazis, and too much of a temptation to resist. There are no coincidences in politics, and dropping dead immediately after Couchfucker’s visit is to close to not be suspicious.

I expect a full court press by the MAGA Nazis to have their hand-picked creep as the next Pope, and they will make all sorts of threats to accomplish it. In the end, if the Vatican chooses someone other than the MAGA Nazi candidate, Catholics will suddenly become one more persecuted political democraphic in America.

I’m entitled to not feel sorry for the unelected ruling class dying. Whether it’s the queen, or it’s the pope.

Both brought more misery than did good. The existance of them both were a net negative to the world.

Fuck the church.

I don’t feel that sorry when an old person dies, they’ve lived their life, and dying is a natural part of the cycle. I do feel bad for those they left behind, who will miss them dearly.

I feel worst for young people who die before their time, and never got to experience the life they planned for, that’s a true tragedy.

We’ll see where it goes. They aren’t exactly transparent about these things, and they’ve been arguing among themselves for a while. We’ll know with the white smoke, I suppose.

There is a roman saying, “the one who enters conclave as the pope [to be] leaves it as a mere cardinal”

I think in terms of the church the term “conservative” does not necessarily align with the political understanding. The largest shift in the church is demographic. White Europeans are loosing power rapidly in the catholic church. Subsequently the catholic church will align less and less with “Western” conservatives, and their imperialist understanding of geopolitics.

I expect to see much more opposition of “christian conservative” politicians in Europe towards the catholic church.
Ironically just yesterday the president of the German federal parliament of the “christian conservative” CDU told the Churches to shut up about politics.

I’m waiting for someone to suggest that a it’s time for the first woman pope.

The church is political. The church should be political. Francis pushed for the church to take more of a stance and it rubbed “christian conservatives” the wrong way, because their political goals are a mockery of the values Jesus preached.

It is literally a political position. There’s about to be an election to choose the next guy.

I agree that it is serious in that it’s going to have an impact on people’s lives, far beyond the relatively small direct power they have. That concerns me.

To be clear, I have zero respect for the institution, but I care about how they wield the influence they have, and I’d much rather have a relatively progressive guy like Francis than a relative reactionary like John Paul II, with all due respect to Polish pride. I’m assuming we can at least agree on taking him over Benedictus.

Yes.

Yes, you should.

Because as much as you see it as a domestic throwaway denomination among many, they are extremely and increasingly overrepresented in developing countries (and a couple of European ones as well).

So if you want to know which way the use of contraceptives, the position on gay people or the express support for neofascism is going to go in Africa this is relevant.

It is not about the US or their opinions. And I say this as an atheist.

username checks out

It would be more than coincidence if the next Pope was an ultra-conservative, GOP-friendly guy from the US and A. Of course this would never happen, but… ehm… who knows?

He’s been sick for a while.

AI slop

Ah yes, the expected purity test. Let’s just ignore any progress made and make snark remarks online while we wait for the 100% ideologically pure.