On May 7 next week 135 of the 252 Cardinals of the Catholic Church are set to convene for the first time since 2013. This so-called College of Cardinals will gather in the Vatican City for a conclave in order to choose a successor to Pope Francis, who died April 21. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church which is the largest Christian denomination church of the world with some 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide with Brazil leading the world in the highest percentage of Catholic patrons.
The Catholic Church officially began around 50 A.D. in Rome. The recently departed Pope Francis was the 266th Pope since the church began. While some say Pope Francis was a “progressive” others go further saying he was a “socialist”. Tagging him with a title is really irrelevant if you believe actions speaking louder than words. Without a doubt, Pope Francis did more to change traditional positions of the church than any previous Pope. He was controversial for several main reasons:
- He allowed for blessings of individuals in same sex unions.
- He acknowledged other religions as parallel ways to God in Heaven.
- He led the church when some unprecedented scandals and leaks took place.
While most Conclaves only last 2 to 5 days, back in the 1200’s one Conclave lasted almost 3 years! The Conclave to select Pope Francis only lasted a day.
Another oddity of the Catholic Church is in donations from dioceses (branch offices) to the Catholic Church Vatican City (corporate). Most offerings are given by the United States (29.3%) followed by those of Italy (11.3%) and Germany (5%). And yet, even with all of this giving the United States in its almost 250 years of existence America has never had a Catholic Pope.
Podcaster Brylan Riggs does a good report on leading candidate Cardinals for Pope.
“This man could be the next Pope and it should terrify you… Reaction!” – Brylan Riggs
Many in the know who study theology, and the Catholic Church specifically, believe that the selection of the next pope in 2025 will be critical to the future of the church. They feel that under Pope Francis the church has lost relevance as it strayed from Biblical teachings and tradition. Related to the three points noted above, many hold that Pope Francis was an actual false prophet.
- In regards to sexual deviancy, Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 state it is an abomination while Deuteronomy 22:5 also calls those who dress in the clothing of other than their assigned sex an abomination.
- Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” This means that people who are not “Christ followers” have no chance at Heaven.
- The scandals of Francis’s papacy most notably were those involving sexual abuse by clergy and the related cover-ups that followed. Other controversies included a leaked document regarding financial mismanagement and a potential “gay lobby” within the Vatican.
Church attendance is down worldwide as is church giving in tithes and offerings so the church is paying a heavy price for its irrelevance. Multiple sources such as Gallup and Pew Research confirm a general decline in church attendance. The number of Catholics attending weekly worship has decreased from 45% in the 2000s to 33% in the 2020s.
But that doesn’t mean people are any less holy or interested in God and Christ than in the past. Conversely to global worship service being down, Bible sales are way up as are conversions to Christianity in general. Approximately 2.7 million people convert to Christianity annually from other religions and many of those conversions are happening in the Middle East and Asia. On top of that, shows such as “The Chosen” series are showing explosive interest in Jesus Christ worldwide.
“Biblical epics ‘House of David,’ ‘The Chosen’ among Amazon Prime’s top 10 shows: ‘All glory to God‘” – Christian Post
So possibly next week a new Pope will be selected by the Catholic Cardinals in a paper ballot. There’s no electronic voting in papal selection. After each round of voting the paper ballots cast are counted and burned in a special stove. Smoke will emerge from a chimney above the Sistine Chapel to signify that a round of voting has ended to the crowd waiting in St. Peter’s Square. Black smoke will indicate the cardinals have not reached a decision. White smoke signals that a new Pope has been selected.
CONCLUSION:
A conclave is defined as a locked room. The Cardinals in the conclave next week will be in a battle between progressivism which has been the legacy of Pope Francis for the last 12 years and a return to traditionalism.
Many people of the world do not respect Catholicism as they should. They do not realize how all of the other factions of Christianity fell out of the Catholic Church when Martin Luther, a Catholic Priest, posted his Ninety-Five Theses on October 31, 1517, to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The Catholic clergy thereafter termed Luther and those to leave the church to follow him as “Protestants” or protesters. Of course Lutherans (those to follow Martin Luther) were the very first denomination or sect of this division.
I am a second generation Lutheran but all the rest of my family is Catholic. I have always loved and respected the Catholic Church but, like Martin Luther, I put love of God and Christ and their words in the Bible before any religious dogma. Still, I have always recognized the significant weight the Pope holds over the entire Christian community. As soon as I heard the Argentina socialist Jorge Mario Bergoglio was to become Pope Francis in 2013, I remember thinking, “This won’t be good,” and it wasn’t.
I got no vote in this matter and my opinion probably means less than zero to members of the Catholic Church and I get that. But looking at the business side of the church, I believe it is time for a conservative traditional AMERICAN pope to be selected by this 2025 Conclave to bring the Catholic Church back from the abyss of progressive liberalism. I believe Cardinal Raymond Burke, a Wisconsin dairy farm boy, should be the next Catholic Pope. I say this because he has been one of the very few to stand up for right over wrong the last 12 years and he paid a price for it in doing so.
“Cardinal Raymond Burke’s Confession After Pope Francis Death Leaves Fans Speechless” – The Inside Discoveries
Over the years people have asked me in the matter of religion, “Are you a Catholic?” My response has always been immediate as well as comical, “No, Catholic Light.” Of course then the next question always comes, “What’s that?” My response is always the same, “All the same church service with none of the guilt.”
The 133 Cardinals that have agreed to meet next week in the Vatican City to select a new pope better understand two things before they cast their ballots for the next Pope:
- The whole world is watching, both Catholic and non-Catholic alike.
- The Americans who hold the purse strings of the church want their own Pope installed and Cardinal Burke checks all the boxes for what they want to see in the next Pope.
It is time for the pendulum to swing back from progressivism to traditionalism in the Catholic Church just like it has in America!
© 2025 by Mark S. Schwendau
