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First American pope elected and will be known as Pope Leo XIV

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606 points saikatsg | 5 comments | 08 May 25 16:30 UTC | HN request time: 0.205s | source
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Boogie_Man ◴[08 May 25 17:32 UTC] No.43928794[source]▶
The prevailing wisdom has been proven wrong on this occasion. He is very much a continuation of Francis's school of thought in spite of the "fat Pope thin Pope" wisdom, and he is an American who has been elected Pope, which was almost unthinkable because of America's economic, political, and mass media domination of the western world. Very unexpected
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1. matteotom ◴[08 May 25 21:29 UTC] No.43931556[source]▶
This (continuing Francis' school of thought) should be rather predictable - Pope Francis appointed the majority of voting cardinals, so it's not a stretch to think this is generally his intended outcome.
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2. hn_throwaway_99 ◴[09 May 25 03:29 UTC] No.43933559[source]▶
Not just a majority, but I read 80% of Cardinals that voted in the conclave.

Francis was a smart man, and he knew that in order for his policies to continue he would need to ensure a like-minded successor would be elected.

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3. mmooss ◴[09 May 25 05:10 UTC] No.43933961[source]▶
Isn't that true of most moderately long-serving popes? How does it ever result in major differences between popes?
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4. aidenn0 ◴[09 May 25 05:46 UTC] No.43934106{3}[source]▶
1. If the pope were of median age for a Cardinal when selected, then about half the popes would still be around when he died. I don't have numbers, but my instinct would be that more senior Cardinals are more likely to be selected pope, which would mean a minority would be appointed by the previous pope at the time of the Conclave.

2. It was only in 1970 that an age-cap was put on Cardinals in the conclave, which significantly increases the power of the previous pope has on his successor; this disqualifies 117 out of 251 Cardinals today.

3. There are certain positions that customarily come along with a cardinality; following this custom diluted the pope's power a bit. Francis did not follow this custom[1]

If you want a discussion of the papal selection, you could do worse than this substack post[2] from a week ago.

1: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/no-more-princes-c...

2: https://decivitate.substack.com/p/de-civitates-very-traditio...

5. agubelu ◴[09 May 25 10:55 UTC] No.43935457[source]▶
It's not as straightforward. Francis was voted by cardinals who were appointed by the much more conservative JPII and Benedict XVI, so it's not that easy to control or direct the outcome of a conclave.