The Future Pope

I can't say that I'm going to miss this Pope ... he always had such a holier-than-though attitude! Anyhoo, I was was wondering if the cardinals will try to do a "first" this time. They have a real chance to break some ground here.

• He was an evil man with no morals.

• Other. The second black pope.

• How about the Pope of Greenwich Village?

  M.%20R.

• Olivia Pope

  S. Rimes

• Wasn't there already a (secret) female Pope? Pope Joan?

• And I think they already did "gay pope" back in 1550

• First OPENLY GAY pope maybe... but there's no way the next pope could be the first gay pope. That's just a hilarious notion.

• Does a bear pope in the woods?

• The gay poopy was Julius III, his lover was Innocenzo. He elevated his squeeze to Cardinal. I am sure there have been other gay poopys. That said, FUCK THE RCC, tax the bastards.

• I think Julianne Moore would make a great pope!

• The next pope will be no more enlightened that Ben. He picked the Cardinals in his own image.

• R4 Shonda, you beat me here.

  Olivia%20P.

• Other. Second woman pope. Hope she has a reign like the first. Having a baby in the street (or the popemobile) on live will finally end this stupid institution

• St. Malachy says the next Pope will be the last and will be a Roman. No way this institution is gonna buck the prophesy. Why do you think I became Benedict?

  Joey%20Ratzi%2C%20the%20unrepetant%20Nazi

• I tend not to give a rats ass about the Roman Catholic Church and their next Pope/Emperor/Queen/King. The RC Church is essentially a medievil institution trying to stamp medievil values on the world- and of course their goal is their own glorification, not the good of their followers. I mean, all that wealth concentrated in Rome, their enormous holdings, their art etc. You'd think they'd distribute a bit of it to the world's needy. You also would think they would attempt to protect children, not hide their abuse of them. Etc, etc. And the press will go on and on about all this.

• There have been a few African popes in antiquity (we can debate whether they were black or brown)

• [quote]I think Julianne Moore would make a great pope! Seriously?

• But it isn't R15. All of the cardinals were appointed by the last two popes, which means the Nazi takeover of the church is complete. The Catholic church as it existed in 1978 is gone. It's as though a burglar came into your house as patriarch and gradually replaced every member of your family.

• Pope Paul VI was gay as well. His boyfriend was an Italian actor.

  Roger%20Peyrefitte

• Wouldn't it be great if they get a pope who will push birth control and marriage for priest?

• I wonder what kind of wheeling and dealing goes on in the college of cardinals during the succession voting.

• It's gonna be the guy from Ghana.

  Even more regressive of course

• Other: Chris Christie. I've got to clear that giant turd so I can become President in 2016.

  Sarah Palin

• St. Gio of Benitez

• I nominate Alexander Pope.

• [quote]I can't say that I'm going to miss this Pope Why are you interested in the pope? Why are you following this? Why are you allowing this concept into your life, enough to possibly miss one of them?

• I predict that the next pope will be from a country that has absolutely no pedophilia scandals. Like, Antarctica.

• The next Pope might just well be more conservative than this one, since, as has been stated, the vast majority of cardinals were appointed by the last two popes. They are exceedingly conservative and will govern that way.

• Do I get to vote?

  Claudia Cardinale

• I hope they finally elect a Pope who isn't a boy-hungry pedophile.

• Tim Dolan is so well-spoken, he'd be perfect for the job.

• The archbishop of Manilla is a rising star in hierarchy. Turkson of Ghana is another. The Latin Americans thinks its their turn and think they deserve the papal throne before any African. BTW, Alexander Pope was a Catholic.

• [quote]The next Pope might just well be more conservative than this one Who cares? It's a misogynistic, homophobic, pedophilia-loving, ancient, backwards religion. You should care less.

• Can we talk more about prophecies? Isn't "the black pope" next? The one who will walk on the corpses of dead cardinals as the Vatican falls to ruin?

  Anonymous

• Popeil I of Potato

• [R17] Seriously!

• I think Marco Rubio may be available shortly.

• Future pope? Like a cyborg or a replicant?

• R27, LOL but wish it wasn't true. OP, Again you forgot to include an Asian or Filipino Pope.

• The Cardinal from Vienna is said to be a considered runner, however he recently said the church needs to take another look at priestly celibacy. That will cause a lot of Cardinals to move away from him.

• If the damn cardinals are wise...they will bring the church into the 21st century. Good grief! It's 2013 and you would think the church is still living in the dark ages. I'm sick to death of all religion. I wish I could move to a planet where there is, NO RELIGION.

• Could someone tell me why an American Pope is so completely out of the question? I think the U.S. has something like 50 million Catholics. That has to rival Europe. Also, the U.S. Church has suffered a massive loss of people in recent years over the social divide with the Catholic Church which seems like could be closed with a 'local' Pope. Not that I'd advocate it of course. That fat bitch Tim Dolan here in New York would be the major front runner to be a U.S. Pope and he's a total famewhore. This guy makes Charles Schumer look like a wallflower when it comes to honing-in on the cameras. Those in New York will know what I'm talking about. He is so shamelessly into promoting himself it isn't funny.

• Carmelita Pope gets my vote.

  Pam

• [quote]Could someone tell me why an American Pope is so completely out of the question? Because there aren't enough American cardinals to vote an American into the office. Do you really think any cardinal from Europe, Asia, Africa, or South America would vote for an American? They aren't voting for someone based on the amount of Catholics in a nation.

• Time for a Norwegian.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dre612YPBsxU

  Sigurd

• I think the cardinals don't want a pope who represents a "superpower." This isn't the first time. The main reason why the 17th, 18th, and 19th century popes were all Italian was becausse the cardinals didn't want an Austrian, Frenchman or Spaniard (who were presumably controlled by their respective monarchs) to assume the papacy.

  Clio

• Maybe for a retirement present we should sent the Pope on a Carnival Cruise!

• He should definitely be a minority but not one of those minorities that stands out. Like a Latino guy that is all white and doesn't look strange. Like Desi Arnaz Junior. You can barely tell he's a spic.

• I think the betting is all on the black pope since that's where the RCC is expanding the most.

• I guess Olivia Newton-John wouldn't be considered huh?

• Interesting article on this topic from [italic]The Nation[/italic]:

  http://www.thenation.com/article/172979/new-pope-african-latin-american-woman-nice-guy-will-change-nothing

• Talk now is for Dolan of NYC, but he has that little Milwaukee problem to deal with.

  http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/02/20/dolan-heads-to-rome-next-week-to-vote-for-new-pope/

• The institution is a sinister, evil, diseased institution and the "faithful" are nuts. I watch these news reports of people gathered in St. Peter's Square, and I have to wonder what planet do they come from. Seriously. In that frame of mind, I watched the documentary onChurch's cover up of pedophiles, Mea Maxima Culpa, and now, my attitude towards Ratzinger has softened a little. IMO, the true evil was in John Paul II. There was another,too, the one who was the Vatican Secretary of State. As several Vatican observers and experts stated: Even this Pope has very limited power. Apparently there's a beauracracy and a network that is in the Vatican and that undermines all efforts to remedy the situation. Pedophilia isn't a new problem. The level of scrutiny and the demand for reform is what's new. There are actually letters and statements in the archives where pedophiles were discussed as a problem of the early church 1700 years ago. So this is a sick institution, and after I saw the documentary, I had a better understanding of why this pope stepped down and the shame and torment he must be in for his complicity. I think he is realizing that he should have done more and he is ashamed. Stepping down from the Papacy is a very big deal in his world. I'm not entirely exhonerating him, but he didn't come across as evil at all. John Paul came across as venal and sinister. John Paul is an evil man. I have to wonder. Ratzy was trying to fast track John Paul's canonization, but there are serious investigations that have to take place. I wonder if the investigations turned up reasons to not confer sainthood on him. I highly reccommend the documentary. I have lost all respect for the Catholic Church and I suspect they will elect a Latino, or someone else from outside the network that really controls the inner Church.

• Pope Sicle!

• Other - Back to Italian born

• It's unlikely much will change. Even though Catholicism is bleeding members in Europe/US while booming in Latin America and Africa, the core of the cardinals are still in Europe and the US. And they stick to old white guys. Supposedly Archibishop Dolan is on the list, as is some dude from Canada. But there's some Austrian guy who's probably next.

• A gay pope would be the biggest fuck you ever. Imagine the meltdown all those homophobic religious nuts would have.

• [quote]Also, the U.S. Church has suffered a massive loss of people in recent years over the social divide with the Catholic Church which seems like could be closed with a 'local' Pope. People want nothing to do with them because the majority is not religious. That's never coming back. The Catholic Church = Third World. That's their hold. We shouldn't care about some stupid construct that dangerous institution has called a pope.

• Pope Desi Arnaz, Jr. sounds good to me.

  Cardinal Patty Duke

• More Importantly what will happen to Gorgeous Monsignor Georg Ganswein

• That priest in Milwaukee that is speaking out. Now HE deserves to be applauded.

• Oohhh... A pope who was molested as a child by a priest!

• I read that Gorgeous Georg will be the assistant to Benedict in his retirement. Given Benedict's condition, Georg won't be out of action long.

• Oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh Oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh Oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh What you know It's the Carmilita Oooh-Oooh Show Oooh, oooh

• [quote]I can't say that I'm going to miss this Pope ... he always had such a holier-than-though attitude! I disagree. I think he's a very shy man who would rather be reading good books while listening to classical music, instead of being a pope.

• Cardinal Keith O’Brien, an outspoken critic of plans by the Scottish and Westminster governments to introduce marriage equality, believes priests should be able to marry if they so wish. In an interview with BBC Scotland, O’Brien stated that it would be within the scope of the new Pope to consider whether the Catholic Church should change its stance on other issues, which were not of divine origin. The cardinal explained: “For example the celibacy of the clergy, whether priests should marry – Jesus didn’t say that. “There was a time when priests got married, and of course we know at the present time in some branches of the Church – in some branches of the Catholic Church – priests can get married, so that is obviously not of divine of origin and it could get discussed again.” O’Brien said he had never personally thought about whether he wanted to get married as he had been “too busy” with his duties. O’Brien is the only man in Britain with a say in who succeeds Pope Benedict XVI after he stands down on 28 February.

• Last November, Cardinal O’Brien was named ‘Bigot of the Year’ by a gay rights charity due to his staunch opposition to marriage equality. In 2012, he stated that same-sex relationships were “harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing” and compared equal marriage to slavery and child abuse.

• The first heterosexual pope.

• I think they'll go with another conservative Pope. There hasn't been sufficient movement in the hierarchy of the Church to have a real think about what it should be in the 2000s, if not what it is. It's a dinosaur, just not a dead dinosaur.

• Anyone throwing a farewell party for Pope Sidious next week? What would you serve?

• Isn't the next pope meant to be the Antichrist?

• I always liked the term 'Antipope'. One of those, please.

• The American Cardinals were scheduled to meet the U.S. media on Thursday morning. At the last minute it was cancelled. They were told by the Curia to STFU and not go to the press meeting. The Italian Cardinals are obviously in charge.

• Is it pope yet?

• The conclave is scheduled to open March 12th. That means there are nearly five days for leaks regarding front-runners before they get locked in.

• Well that's disappointing, R75. The "experts" on the news were saying that the sooner the conclave starts, the more likely it is that they will choose an insider/an Italian. The longer they took, the more time the cardinals had to get to know each other.

• All this is total guessing, but I think the next Pope will be from Africa. There are millions of Catholics there, and at the same time Islam is on the rise. An African pope might sway lots of people toward the church. The African cardinals are very conservative, though, so it won't change anything.

• [quote]Islam is on the rise. If you go back ten centuries, Pope Urban II was raising an army to free the Holy Land from Islamic rule (First Crusade). Urban was also trying to deal with married clergy. The new pope will be dealing with cardinals and bishops who want priests to be able to marry. Urban II also set up the Roman Curia in the manner of a royal court to help run the Church. It's the Curia that in recent years has been involved in banking scandals. You don't have to be Catholic or religious to view the interesting history of this event. Ten centuries ago, the pope wielded an amazing amount of power throughout Europe.

• The only American Cardinal who might change things is the one from Boston. As for the St Malachy predictions -most historians say that last prediction about Peter Romanus is a forgery and was added much later -centuries later.

• Again, looking back ten centuries, while Urban II was raising an army, there was strife in Syria. The ruler of Syria, Tutush I, died so his lands were divided between his sons Fakhr who inherited Aleppo and Duqaq who inherited Damascus. Both of the emirs were antagonistic towards each other, no brotherly love. They were also involved in a fued with Kerbogha, in nearby Mosul.

• The Vatican must be mobbed up. I wonder how many Italian and Italian-American cardinals have Mafia connections.

• Isn't one of the things that Italy is charging the Vatican with - laundering money for the mafia?