THE NEXT POSSIBLE POPE POSSIBLY HUNGARIAN

The next pope is out there. Who will the College of Cardinals elect, a clone of Pope Francis? That seems plausible since Pope Francis has chosen cardinals that do not challenge his theology. But the God of surprises might surprise Pope Francis in retirement or death, whichever comes first. 

Will the cardinals pick a clone of Pope Benedict? I doubt it, but again, who knows in today’s climate of the Church?

More than likely it will be a mix of Francis and Benedict with a bit of JPII thrown in along with JPI and Paul VI and John XXIII and all other popes. 

The Catholic Herald wrote an article back in July of 2022 on the Hungarian option. My vote goes to him:

This is from the Catholic Herald:

Will it be a Hungarian Pope?

Hungarian Cardinal Péter Erdő – Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest – may be emerging as a front-runner to succeed Pope Francis. The canon law expert is fast becoming a contender to succeed the Holy Father as rumours mount about the latter’s health, even with a potential candidate from Asia emerging as a frontrunner as well. Filipino Cardinal Tagle would certainly align with the more liberal position taken by the current Pope. His appointment would also point to the changing demographics of the Church. (Tagle fell out of favor with Pope Francis after this article was written and he was removed from a Vatican Dicastery by the pope.) A Hungarian Pope however would be enormously significant given the cultural Iron Curtain dividing a de-Christianised western Europe from a re-Christianising east.

As John Gizzi – Chief Political Correspondent for Newsmax – recently pointed out, “talk of Erdő as a future Pope is nothing new.” Indeed, Cardinal Erdő was being talked about as early as 2013. But, as Gizzi wrote, one Vatican insider told Newsmax the current Pope “is not going to be around for long”, adding that “at the most, he will be there until December.” Meanwhile the source told Newsmax to closely “watch Cardinal Erdő … he is the one who [the College of Cardinals, who will elect the next Pope] are beginning to talk about.” (Of course, this prediction was wrong—Pope Francis can be tenacious and like the energizer bunny!)

So, who exactly is Cardinal Erdő?

Cardinal Erdő is considered a traditionalist who respects the celebration of the Latin Mass. But Cardinal Erdő is also respected by liberals like the Holy Father, suggesting he could be a unifying force within the Church. Pope Francis has already appointed Cardinal Erdő as the “relator general” of the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. The Hungarian cardinal has also been vocal in his support for outreach to Orthodox Christianswhich may be significant given the huge numbers of Ukrainians currently in Hungary. (This would be superb!)

But what Cardinal Erdő has said is perhaps less important than what his appointment would represent. Pope St. John Paul II was considered instrumental in the collapse of communism in central and eastern Europe. The Polish Pope’s election helped spark the peaceful end of communism in his native country, with his visit in 1979 being a major turning point. While it would be wrong to characterise Cardinal Erdő as aligned directly with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a man at the forefront of the culture clash within the EU, his past statements suggest some sympathies, while he is the leading Catholic in a country which is now 80 per cent Christian and very much on the conservative nationalist side of the great European cultural divide.

Orbán – himself a Calvinist, although his wife and children are Catholic – would see a Hungarian Pope as a hugely significant moment, especially as he continues to characterise Hungary and Poland as leaders of central and eastern Europe as well as defenders of Western Christendom. Back in 2015, during the height of the European migrant crisis, Cardinal Erdő struck a tone which would seem to align with Orbánite politics. At that time – when Pope Francis was calling on Catholics to take in refugees – the Cardinal said taking in refugees would amount to human trafficking. Meanwhile, Bishop Laszlo Kiss-Rigo, the Church’s most senior official in southern Hungary, was quoted as saying Pope Francis “doesn’t know the situation” and that Hungary was under “invasion.” 

In conservative Hungary, Catholics officials are known to ally strongly with Orbán, who has warned repeatedly about the presence of Muslims in Europe, arguing that “Europe and European identity is rooted in Christianity.” This, in a country where church bells toll every day at noon to commemorate a 15th Century battle in which Hungary expelled Muslim Turks. Despite Cardinal Erdő’s position in 2015 however, the following year he expressed concern about tendencies to turn religions against one another. Then in an interview with Válasz On Line in 2019 – when asked directly about Islam and immigration – Cardinal Erdő asked rhetorically: “Can a country, a continent, be called Christian?”, seemingly a direct challenge to Orbánite thinking. The Cardinal added “I wouldn’t emphasise whiteness as a Catholic, though.” 

The extent to which Cardinal Erdő aligns with Orbán is difficult to say. What is clear, however, is that a Hungarian Pope would be enormously symbolic in central and eastern Europe, given the cultural cleavage within the EU. Last year alone a law which bans the dissemination of content in schools deemed to promote homosexuality and gender change went into effect in Hungary. In conservative and Catholic Poland, there are also “zones” apparently free of LGBT “ideology”. The conservative drift in these countries – whether in relation to gay rights or immigration – has highlighted the ideological division within Europe as a whole. Whether Cardinal Erdő likes it or not, should he be appointed to lead the Catholic Church one can imagine central and eastern Europe energised in its ongoing culture war with the west.

IT APPEARS THAT GOD MAY BE REMOVING POPE FRANCIS’ WORLDLY STIPEND AND PLACE OF RESIDENCE AT THE VATICAN MOTEL 6–PRAY FOR POPE FRANCIS!

 ROME – Just hours after a Vatican news conference confirming Pope Francis’s trip to Dubai this weekend for a United Nations climate summit, the Vatican announced Tuesday that it has been cancelled upon medical advice due to an ongoing infection causing lung inflammation.

Pope cancels Dubai trip over health concerns

By Elise Ann Alle

THE POPE OF MERCY STRIKES AGAIN! YIKES!

This pope still hasn’t learned that you draw more flies with honey rather than vinegar. I’m not sure how this will heal any polarization that has developed between the pope and some members of the college of bishops and cardinals and the laity. But what the heck! This link is from the National Catholic Reporter:

Pope Francis to remove Cardinal Burke's Vatican apartment and salary, sources say

Pope Francis has punished one of his highest-ranking critics, Cardinal Raymond Burke, by yanking his right to a subsidized Vatican apartment and salary in the second such radical action against a conservative American prelate this month, according to two people briefed on the measures.

Francis told a meeting of the heads of Vatican offices last week that he was moving against Burke, because he was a source of "disunity" in the church, said one of the participants at the Nov. 20 meeting. The participant spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to reveal the contents of the encounter.

Francis said he was removing Burke's privileges of having a subsidized Vatican apartment and salary as a retired cardinal because he was using the privileges against the church, said another person who was subsequently briefed on the pope's measures. That person also spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to reveal the details.

Burke, a 75-year-old canon lawyer whom Francis had fired as the Vatican's high court justice in 2014, has become one of the most outspoken critics of the pope, his outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and his reform project to make the church more responsive to the needs of ordinary faithful.

A WARNING TO THE PROGRESSIVE/HETERODOX OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, THE CHURCH JESUS FOUNDED…

Augusta, Georgia where I grew up is seeing an unprecedented schism within the United Methodist Church. I have warm feelings toward the United Methodist Church because some of my childhood best friends were members there. They did not proselytize Catholics like my Baptist and Church of God (Pentecostal) friends did. I remember trying to learn the Bible verses that my friends had to memorize and the version of Psalm 23 that I did memorize with them is the beautiful King James Version of it!

I can remember my friends’ mother talking to my dad about the great merger of her Methodist Church with the United Church and that their new name would be the United Methodist Church (two separate congregations becoming one new denomination). This was in the mid 60’s and a sign of the ecumenical goings on at the time even with Protestantism. 

Fast forward to Thursday, November 30th, 2023 and this is the new story. 

Keep in mind that the United Methodist Church as a body and local congregations have long practiced the synodal way, although they don’t use that name, and like the German Catholic Schism, the synodal way has led to fragmentation, congregationalism and schism!!! Catholics should expect nothing different with the synodal way of Pope Francis as it devolves into congregationalism and fragmentation and schism.

SCHISM!

A church divided from Now Habersham website

In 2019, the United Methodist Church strengthened its bans on gay clergy and same-sex weddings, prompting a backlash from more progressive congregations. Some churches viewed the measures as punitive and discriminatory and left the denomination because of them. Many progressive UMC church leaders refused to enforce the rules. That, in turn, upset the more conservative congregations. They’re now leaving the denomination because of its failure to uphold the church’s stated belief that “homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.”

Fifty-seven Augusta area churches will leave the United Methodist Church at the end of this month. They’re among 265 congregations in North Georgia and metro Atlanta that voted to disaffiliate from the denomination largely due to a split over LGBTQ issues.

The disaffiliations become effective on Nov. 30. After that, the departing churches may no longer use the “United Methodist” name nor the denomination’s logo. They will have 30 days to fulfill their financial obligations to the UMC, including purchasing church property if their congregation chooses to keep it. And they’re prohibited from pursuing further litigation against the conference.

The church disaffiliations in North Georgia come after 193 congregations once belonging to the UMC South Georgia Conference left the denomination in May, also due to the ongoing debate over LGBTQ issues.

As of early August 2023, over 6,200 of the UMC’s 30,000 congregations in the United States had been approved for disaffiliation since 2019, according to the UMC’s website.

Metro Augusta area churches disaffiliating

• Anthony Chapel UMC (Lincolnton)
• Barton Chapel United Methodist Church (Augusta)
• Berlin UMC (Hephzibah)
• Blythe UMC.

• Burns Memorial UMC (Augusta) (This church was my friends’ church!)

• Cokesbury UMC (Augusta)
• Dearing UMC.
• Dunn's Chapel UMC (Appling)

• Trinity on the Hill UMC (This is one of the riches and most influential UMC in Augusta next to St. Mary on the Hill Catholic Church.)
• A prayer on Burns Memorial Methodist church’s webpage:

WHAT WE BELIEVE

• In this divisive time for the Church, we at Burns Memorial continue to hold fast to the historical Christian faith. We believe in the Apostles Creed, the authority of scripture, traditional marriage, and the unique saving power of Jesus Christ. We also believe in you. God loves you, died for you, and God wants you to come to saving faith and a new life as his child.

WHAT WILL THE NEXT POPE NEED TO DO?

 

1. He will need to reassert Catholic identity in clearly defined doctrine, the faith and morals of the Church and the perennial Deposit of Faith—not too difficult to do but we recognize this will be hard for the 1960’s relics who are now on life-support but don’t realize it and completely out of touch with young Catholics who are engaged with the Church.

2. He will need to recover Pope Benedict’s liturgical genius and revised the Modern Roman Missal by going back to the 1962 liturgical heritage and make the Liturgy more like the older one but with a clear vernacular version. Catholic music must be clarified and the Older Mass is the venue for that!

3. Anathemas must be reasserted as well as the removal of heterodox cardinals and other bishops. That should not be too hard as Pope Francis has shown the autocratic way.

4. Excommunications for Catholics who participate in illicit and invalid liturgical celebrations should be made clear. I was glad that Cardinal Parolin reemphasized  Pope Francis’ emphasis on Pope John Paul II’s magisterial teaching that no pope and no one in the Church has the ability to admit women to Holy Orders. Parolin went further to say that anyone, bishop or otherwise, who participates in an invalid and sacrilegious ordination of a woman will be excommunicated!

5. The culture of Holy Orders and Religious life must be established beginning at the Vatican with proper clerical dress and the clerical finery that Pope Benedict was restoring especially what is expected at the Vatican!

I am sure there will be other mandates too! But the fist five are a good start!

AN AUSTRALIAN MAKE OVER AND NICE IT IS

 BEFORE:

AFTER:

Just getting rid of the 1970’s banners would have been a great improvement. My source for these photos did not name the church or bishop in Australia. Kudos to the parish community and the designer. The tabernacle “stand” for lack of a better name, is nicely done and does not look like a competing altar, especially from the congregation’s point of view.

PRAYERS FOR THE POPE

Vatican News update:

Pope Francis has no fever, ‘clearly improving’ from flu

The Director of the Holy See Press Office says a CT scan the Pope underwent over the weekend “ruled out pneumonia” and that he is in a “good” condition and improving.

By Joseph Tulloch

“The Pope is in a good and stable condition; he has no fever, and his respiratory situation is clearly improving."

That’s the latest update on the Pope’s health given on Monday morning by Matteo Bruni, the Director of the Holy See Press Office.

The Pope has been suffering from a “pulmonary inflammation," as he himself said on Sunday, appearing via videolink for his Sunday Angelus address.

CRUX UPDATE:

Pope appears with IV, says he has ‘inflammation of the lungs’

On Saturday the Vatican issued a brief statement saying the pope had cancelled all of the day’s audiences due to a “mild flu.”

A second statement published later Saturday said Francis had gone to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for a CAT-scan to rule out “pulmonary complications,” and that the scan “was negative.”

That statement appeared to contradict the pope’s remark about the inflammation of his lungs. A Vatican spokesman did not immediately respond to a Crux request for clarification.

Today’s Sunday Angelus was broadcast not from the window of the Apostolic Palace, but rather from the chapel of the “Vatican Motel 6” that is the residence of Pope Francis. He is clearly under the weather and the priest next to His Holiness read most of the Angelus address for the pope.

The Vatican is now saying that Pope Francis has an inflamed lung. It is clear in the second photo that the pope has had an “IV” port installed for fluids. 

Continue to pray for the pope in a world and Church in crisis. 

Prayer for the Pope

V. Let us pray for our Holy Father Francis.

R. The Lord preserve him and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.

Lord Jesus, shelter our Holy Father the Pope under the protection of Your Sacred Heart. Be his light, his strength and his consolation.

---

Lord, source of eternal life and truth, give to Your shepherd, the Pope, a spirit of courage and right judgement, a spirit of knowledge and love.By governing with fidelity those entrusted to his care may he, as successor to the apostle Peter and vicar of Christ, build Your church into a sacrament of unity, love, and peace for all the world.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

PRAY FOR THE PAPACY…

The above photo is the Vatican News photo, a caricature?

 I wonder if this illness is due to the stress caused by the interview given by a female ex-Vatican employee I post below this post? At any rate, continue to pray for the pope who has had a bad week with Argentina, Germany, Israel, Gaza, Ukraine and the Vatican:

Pope cancels Saturday's scheduled audiences due to slight flu

Pope Francis has cancelled his audiences scheduled for Saturday due to a slight flu, according to the Holy See Press Office.

Crux raises the alarm after Vatican report:

Citing flu, Pope cancels audiences after scan to rule out pneumonia

DENVER – In the latest health scare for a pontiff who will turn 87 next month, the Vatican announced Saturday that Pope Francis had cancelled his meetings for the day due to a “slight flu-like condition,” and later added that he had visited Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for a CAT scan to rule out pneumonia.

I THINK MOST OF US WITH ANY COMMON SENSE KNOW THIS, BECAUSE WE AREN’T STUPID, BUT OTHERS HAVE SAID IT AND NOW AN ITALIAN WOMAN WHO WORKED IN THE VATICAN IS SAYING IT—AND IT IS TRAGIC FOR THE PAPACY AND THE CHURCH

Divine intervention will eventually occur, but in the meantime, wait it out.

As I have written before, the last 10 years has seen an unprecedented polarization in the Church which makes the 1960’s and 70’s look like child’s play. 

I have also written, and I don’t mean to commit the sin of presuming the Holy Spirit is the source of everything that happens, but perhaps the Holy Spirit is using this papacy to teach a completely new generation of Catholics what an abysmal failure the “spirit” of Vatican II has been and is, especially when placed on steroids by the pope, which is unprecedented in the post-conciliar Church.

This is from Crux. This ex-Vatican employee, Lucetta Scaraffia, seems to confirm what Cardinal Pell wrote, that this papacy is a catastrophe from many differing points of view and that no one is happy, left or right leaning.

No one in the Church should be happy or gloat over this ugly truth confirmed by so many who are in the know. I think many in the know, are quiet, because they know they need to wait it out. Here I am speaking about cardinals and bishops. But it is tragic for the Church, for the Vatican and for the institution of the papacy. What a mess the next pope has to address and clean up. He’ll need to have the personality of a Pope John Paul II and the intellectual ability of a Pope Benedict XVI. His name will be Pope John Paul Benedict.

Press title for the complete Crux interview, money byte below title:

Ex-Vatican editor calls Pope ‘catastrophe’ on anti-Semitism, ‘fake’ on women

By Crux Staff

Nov 25, 2023

A couple of money bytes:

Would you define Francis as an anti-Western pope?

He’s a pope who hates the values of the West. The fact that he’s anti-Western, and, above all, anti-American, becomes more evident all the time. In so doing, he forgets that the West is the lone part of the world that’s tried, even in limited and insufficient ways, to realize the values of the Church.

In a recent interview with La Stampa, the philosopher Alain Finkielkraut declared that ‘Pope Francis is discredited’ and defined him as ‘a catastrophe for the Church and for Europe.’ What do you think?

I think he’s a catastrophe for the Church in Europe and in the world. The Church no longer counts for anything, it doesn’t interest anyone. It’s become fodder for journalists, who talk about the pope as if he were an influencer.

Acting like an influencer, has he given up playing a moral role?

He’s given up what it should mean to be the pope. He’s become an aspiring diplomat, which is a role he can’t even play … The consequences are extremely serious: A collapse of the Church, and of the people who follow it. It’s a curious thing that Pope Francis is much more appreciated among non-Catholics, who, however, aren’t at all thinking about becoming Catholics.

Preceding the Crux article/interview I link above, is this article. It dovetails with the interview and quotes people about how Pope Francis is handling the war in the Middle East. I have to say that Cardinal Parolin makes great sense because he is clear and articulate unlike the pope that he serves. It is Pope Francis’ poor communication skills and false equivalencies that has gotten him into hot water with both the Ukrainians and Israel. It too is an unnecessary catastrophe but Cardinal Parolin puts lipstick on the pig. With this intervention along with the intervention against Germany’s schismatic way, it appears Cardinal Parolin is campaigning to be the next pope or showing how he would be pope in contrast with the current papacy:

Aides defend Pope from charges of false equivalence on Gaza war

CARDINAL PAROLIN, VATICAN SECRETARY OF STATE, FINALLY SLAPS DOWN THE GERMAN SCHISMATIC CHURCH?

Which is the greatest threat to schism, the SSPX or Traditional Catholics or the entire German Church? As it concerns the German schism, it will also be heretical and invalidate the Sacraments of the Church placing them into the category of the Protestant Reformation, not the Great Schism between the East and West, where the East maintained the validity of Apostolic Secession and thus valid Sacraments to include Holy Orders.

Note from the Secretariat of State dated October 23, 2023:

In view of the course of the German synodal journey so far, it must first be borne in mind that a universal synodal journey is currently taking place, convened by the Holy Father. It is therefore necessary to respect this path of the universal Church and to avoid the impression that parallel initiatives are underway that are indifferent to the endeavor to "journey together".

In this regard, it is worth taking up some of the Holy Father's words to the people of God in Germany: "Brothers and sisters, let us care for one another! Let us watch out for the temptation of the father of lies and division, the master of schism, who, in driving the search for an apparent good or an answer to a particular situation, ends up dismembering the body of the holy and faithful people of God". 1

With respect for the concerns of some members of the Church in Germany, we "widen the tent" to continue the dialogue that has already begun in the hope that it will be characterized by respect and fraternal affection, taking into account the issues presented in the documents that summarize the proposals.

However, it must be made clear from the outset that these issues are of varying relevance and cannot all be placed on the same level. Some of them have aspects that cannot be put up for discussion, but also aspects that can be subjected to joint in-depth discussion. With regard to others, however, there is no possibility of arriving at a different assessment, such as the following:

(a) Priestly ordination reserved to men:

"Although the doctrine of priestly ordination reserved to men only has been both preserved by the constant and comprehensive tradition of the Church and taught with consistency by the Magisterium in the documents of the recent past, it is nevertheless considered debatable in our time in various places, or the decision of the Church not to admit women to this ordination is ascribed merely disciplinary significance. So that all doubt may be removed concerning this important matter, which concerns the divine constitution of the Church itself, I declare, by virtue of my office of strengthening the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32), that the Church has no authority whatsoever to ordain women to the priesthood, and that all the faithful of the Church must definitively abide by this decision." 2

Pope Francis has explicitly reaffirmed St. John Paul II's statement several times. For example:

"With regard to the ordination of women to the priesthood, the Church has spoken, and she says: No - St. John Paul II said this, but in a definitive way. This door is closed" 3

"With regard to the ordination of women in the Catholic Church, St. John Paul II has spoken the last clear word, and that remains. That is valid." 4

"It is not a dogmatic definition, although it must be accepted by all. No one may publicly contradict it." 5

We are faced with a binding decision that is also subject to the jurisdictional power of the Pope, with precise disciplinary consequences, which are set out in the norms on offenses reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (October 11, 2021):

Art. 5.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith also reserves the more serious offense of the attempted consecration of a woman:

1° If the person who attempts to confer sacred ordination or the woman who attempts to receive sacred ordination are believers in Christ subject to the CIC, they are liable to excommunication as a penal offense, the lifting of which is reserved to the Apostolic See according to can. 1379 § 3 CIC is reserved to the Apostolic See.

2° If, however, the person who seeks to confer Holy Orders or the woman who seeks to receive Holy Orders are members of the Christian faithful subject to the CCEO, they are to be punished with a major excommunication, the lifting of which is reserved to the Apostolic See.

 

Although today this issue must be considered closed throughout the Church, the Holy Father Francis has formulated a reflection that helps to understand the meaning of this teaching and invites us to find other ways to favor greater participation of women:

"Claiming the legitimate rights of women on the basis of the firm conviction that men and women have equal dignity poses profound questions for the Church which challenge her and which cannot be avoided superficially. The priesthood reserved for men as a sign of Christ the Bridegroom, who gives himself in the Eucharist, is a question that is not open to discussion, but it can give rise to particular conflicts if sacramental authority is confused too much with power.

"We must not forget that when we speak of priestly authority, we are 'at the level of function and not at the level of dignity and holiness'.

"The ministerial priesthood is one of the means that Jesus uses to serve his people, but the great dignity comes from baptism, which is accessible to all. The assimilation of the priest to Christ the Head - that is, as the main source of grace - does not imply an elevation that places him at the head of all the rest. In the Church, functions do not establish 'the superiority of some over others'. In fact, one woman, Mary, is more important than all the bishops. Even if the function of the ministerial priesthood is understood as 'hierarchical', it must be borne in mind that it is 'entirely intended for the holiness of the members of Christ'. Its pivotal point is not its power understood as dominion, but its authority to administer the sacrament of the Eucharist; this is the basis of its authority, which is always a service to the people. This is a great challenge for pastors and theologians, who could help to better recognize what this entails with regard to the possible role of women in the various areas of the Church where important decisions are made." 6

b) Another issue on which a local Church has no possibility of taking a different view concerns homosexual acts. For even if one recognizes that from a subjective point of view there may be various factors that call us not to judge people, this in no way changes the evaluation of the objective morality of these acts.

The constant teaching of the Church emphasizes that "the objective moral evaluation of sexual relations between persons of the same sex is precisely and certainly established. Another question, which is not under discussion here, is the degree of subjective moral imputability of such relationships in each individual case." 7

From the Vatican, October 23, 2023

[Notes:]

1 Pope Francis, Letter to the Pilgrim People of God in Germany, June 29, 2019, no. 10.
2 St. John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Ordinatio sacerdotalis on the Ordination to the Priesthood Reserved for Men Only, May 22, 1994, no. 4.5
3 Pope Francis, From the press conference during the return flight after the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro (July 28, 2013).
4 Pope Francis, From the Holy Father's answer to Anna Kristina Kappelin for Sveriges TV during the return flight from the Apostolic Journey to Sweden (November 1, 2016).
5 Pope Francis, "Answers" of the Holy Father "to the dubia of two cardinals" (July 1, 2023)
6 Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium (November 24, 2013), 104.
7 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Notification concerning certain writings of Fr. Marciano Vidal, C.Ss.R. (February 22, 2001).

[Source: Die Tagespost]

THE PILLAR’S TAKE HERE