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Pope Francis has died

(www.reuters.com)
916 points phillipharris | 10 comments | 21 Apr 25 08:00 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
1. caseyy ◴[21 Apr 25 10:39 UTC] No.43750345[source]▶
Pope Francis has done much to transform the Catholic church into a more progressive and inclusive institution. If not for his papacy, it was somewhat likely that the church would drift too far from Millennial values to keep its former relevance.

Hopefully, the next pope will also champion unity, inclusivity, and peace, and oppose religious dogmatism. This will define the future of Christianity. Many challenges remain for the institution.

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2. decimalenough ◴[21 Apr 25 11:02 UTC] No.43750507[source]▶
There's been much talk of the Church finally electing a black Pope from sub-Saharan Africa. The irony is that, if they are inclusive enough to do so, the selected Pope will almost certainly be more hard-line and doctrinaire than any of his recent predecessors on issues like homosexuality. Here's one of the contenders:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sarah

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3. caseyy ◴[21 Apr 25 12:08 UTC] No.43751008[source]▶
Of the current widely accepted papabili, Peter Turkson is from Sub-Saharan Africa. He is softly pro-LGBT, and he seeks to harmonize the progressive homosexuality views with traditional African culture[0]. I don't think Robert Sarah is considered papabile, possibly owing to his message of hate for homosexuality. Overall, it's inconsistent with the recent message of the church, and it is hard to imagine that progressive Catholics would accept it.

Here's a Reuters list for possible Francis successors: https://www.reuters.com/world/who-might-succeed-pope-francis.... Usually, Reuters does thorough due diligence before releasing something. So I'd expect their predictions are accurate.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Turkson

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4. lores ◴[21 Apr 25 12:50 UTC] No.43751426{3}[source]▶
Interesting that they identify mostly progressives as papabile. If they're right, Francis did an excellent job behind the scenes to set up the Church to do in the future what he could not in the present.
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5. inemesitaffia ◴[22 Apr 25 19:27 UTC] No.43765427{3}[source]▶
There's no reconciliation between living in sin and in Christ, period.

Anything outside that, regardless of how progressive it seems, is inconsistent with church teachings.

6. inemesitaffia ◴[22 Apr 25 19:29 UTC] No.43765445{4}[source]▶
He's negatively affected church growth and that's stark.
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7. lores ◴[23 Apr 25 11:56 UTC] No.43771061{5}[source]▶
How so?
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8. inemesitaffia ◴[23 Apr 25 17:26 UTC] No.43774491{6}[source]▶
People who want to join the church prefer Latin Mass which he's opposed to.

His proclamation on blessing LGBT people caused a rift with the Church in Africa (remember why we have Anglicans as part of the Catholic Church?) threatening an area that's seeing church growth.

He's also had his mouth closed about the killings of Catholics in Africa and Asia by extremists.

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9. lores ◴[23 Apr 25 18:25 UTC] No.43775149{7}[source]▶
The Latin ship sailed 6 decades ago... There's no going back without pissing off everyone else, assuming it's indeed true new members would prefer Latin - if you have a source about that, I'd be really interested in reading it.
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10. inemesitaffia ◴[25 Apr 25 08:44 UTC] No.43791559{8}[source]▶
https://liturgyguy.com/2020/05/26/2019-20-tlm-survey-what-we...

This is one source I found. It's supposed to be in Pew Research but I can't use that site.

You're talking as though I'm talking about a return to Latinate Mass for everyone. It's supposed to be optional but it's being actively suppressed like some heresy.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/04/latin-mass...

Including it's use in Novus Ordo Missae and a bias against orthodoxy in general.

Apart from that there's the comments here against the importance of fellowship and evangelism to others actively and passively. Also a denial that being part of the church, Catholic or not (as one in Christ) is supposed to change you. What's the point of it all if it doesn't?