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

(www.cnn.com)
606 points saikatsg | 10 comments | 08 May 25 16:30 UTC | HN request time: 0.661s | source | bottom
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afavour ◴[08 May 25 17:54 UTC] No.43929124[source]▶
> "Cardinal George of Chicago, of happy memory, was one of my great mentors, and he said: 'Look, until America goes into political decline, there won't be an American pope.' And his point was, if America is kind of running the world politically, culturally, economically, they don't want America running the world religiously. So, I think there's some truth to that, that we're such a superpower and so dominant, they don't wanna give us, also, control over the church."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-pope-could-it-be-american-c...

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snickerbockers ◴[08 May 25 23:52 UTC] No.43932503[source]▶
That's an interesting thought but if they're actually that concerned about it then they'd wait longer than four months. It probably has more to do with America's predominant religion being protestantism by a very wife margin for most of the country's existence. We didn't have a Catholic president until Kennedy and even then proving to the common American that Catholics aren't insane Vatican mindslaves was considered a hurdle he had to overcome.

If there's a political motive in not choosing an American pope until now it's that for most of American history it wouldn't have granted them any influence over American politics. If there's a personal motive it's that until recently they felt insulted that America went for almost 200 years before finally electing a Catholic president.

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1. hn_throwaway_99 ◴[09 May 25 00:48 UTC] No.43932792[source]▶
> That's an interesting thought but if they're actually that concerned about it then they'd wait longer than four months.

I don't think they had much control over when Francis died.

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2. ToValueFunfetti ◴[09 May 25 00:57 UTC] No.43932848[source]▶
The concern is that America would be too powerful if they had this power over Catholicism as well. There's no concern about waiting until it's time to appoint the next one.
3. ◴[09 May 25 01:04 UTC] No.43932892[source]▶
4. traes ◴[09 May 25 03:17 UTC] No.43933507[source]▶
Sure, but there clearly wasn't much concern if an American got 2/3rds of the vote on day 2. They didn't have to elect a new pope this quickly.
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5. kijin ◴[09 May 25 04:37 UTC] No.43933823[source]▶
130+ cardinals aren't going to be stuck in Sistine Chapel for months just to assuage some hypothetical concerns about America.
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6. watwut ◴[09 May 25 07:05 UTC] No.43934473[source]▶
They had to. They are locked there, isolated, until they elect. That is how catholic pope elections work. Their job is to elect and then move on their normal duties and interactions.
7. m4rtink ◴[09 May 25 10:54 UTC] No.43935449{3}[source]▶
Well, they used to take quite a bit longer in the past.
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8. snickerbockers ◴[09 May 25 19:49 UTC] No.43940337[source]▶
Then they appoint somebody else and wait until he dies and then appoint Pope Americus the First. The hypothesis is that they didn't want an American pope until America is in decline and that America is in decline due to the re-election of Donald Trump. I will admit the part about Donald Trump is something i assumed with no basis and it is possible that the OP did not mean to say that America is in decline solely as a result of this, but whenever i read about America losing its international influence it's always somebody complaining about the tariffs or insulting Canada or whatever.

Anyways, nothing can end America on such a short timescale. Even if Donald Trump's recent decisions will cause the downfall of America's global pseudo-empire we are not anywhere near a point of no return and he could give up on playing "5D chess" and fix this all within a month; some opportunities would be lost which leads to some unrecoverable economic damage but we'd still be largely in the same position as we were six months ago; consequentially, any fears they may have had about appointing an American pope during a period of global American hegemony are still valid.

9. ◴[10 May 25 05:20 UTC] No.43943408{4}[source]▶
10. tekknik ◴[10 May 25 12:00 UTC] No.43944983{3}[source]▶
At one point they took the roof off of a building because they were taking too long. Another, they changed their diet to bread and water. In one instance they stopped their pay until they decided.

You should look into the history of choosing a pope, it’s wild.