Pope Francis has died

[Omnis]

After his last public appearance for Easter Sunday mass, the Vatican has announced that Pope Francis is dead.

Pope Francis has died on Easter Monday aged 88 - Vatican News

Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, at the age of 88 at his residence in the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta.

www.vaticannews.va

Will be interesting to see where the church goes for the next pontifex in these politically trying times.

 

[Liquid]

I'd keel over after meeting JD Vance and seeing where the world is going, to be fair.

 

[Joey D]

If the Church wants to staunch the flow of younger people leaving religion, it would make sense to elect a Pope who's at least as liberal as Francis was. I get that the Catholic Church is never going to be a bastion of liberalism, but they at least need to be somewhat modern if they don't want eight people leaving the Church for every one who joins. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle seems like a good fit, and being from the Philippines would likely help bolster Catholicism in that part of the world. He's also fairly liberal on many things, and he's young. Cardinal Pietro Parolin wouldn't be bad either, since he is supposedly very good with worldly affairs, which is needed at the moment. Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi could be good for the same reasons.

I know Trump has mentioned Cardinal Raymond Burke as his desired Pope. Unsurprisingly Burke is an asshole and likely has heretical views, specifically Americanism. Burke would likely increase the number of people leaving the Church, although many of his ideas would take Catholicism back to its traditional roots. I can't see the Holy See electing an American though.

 

[Biggles]

If the Church wants to staunch the flow of younger people leaving religion, it would make sense to elect a Pope who's at least as liberal as Francis was. I get that the Catholic Church is never going to be a bastion of liberalism, but they at least need to be somewhat modern if they don't want eight people leaving the Church for every one who joins. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle seems like a good fit, and being from the Philippines would likely help bolster Catholicism in that part of the world. He's also fairly liberal on many things, and he's young. Cardinal Pietro Parolin wouldn't be bad either, since he is supposedly very good with worldly affairs, which is needed at the moment. Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi could be good for the same reasons.

I know Trump has mentioned Cardinal Raymond Burke as his desired Pope. Unsurprisingly Burke is an asshole and likely has heretical views, specifically Americanism. Burke would likely increase the number of people leaving the Church, although many of his ideas would take Catholicism back to its traditional roots. I can't see the Holy See electing an American though.

I think you're looking at this through a very North American perspective. The growth area for the Catholic church is in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The Church may have given up on Europe and North America to some degree. It's a bit like the tobacco companies: they may have lost a large part of their base in North America and Europe, but they are successfully peddling their product to the huge populations in Africa, Asia and South America. They're also having to compete with Evangelicals in those markets. I'm not sure liberalism is a winning approach for the Catholic Church, but for sure it's a complicated equation with multiply competing considerations.

 

[Joey D]

I think you're looking at this through a very North American perspective. The growth area for the Catholic church is in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The Church may have given up on Europe and North America to some degree. It's a bit like the tobacco companies: they may have lost a large part of their base in North America and Europe, but they are successfully peddling their product to the huge populations in Africa, Asia and South America. They're also having to compete with Evangelicals in those markets. I'm not sure liberalism is a winning approach for the Catholic Church, but for sure it's a complicated equation with multiply competing considerations.

I'm not saying liberal in that the Catholic Church needs to embrace homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia, stem cells, etc. I'm saying they need to take a liberal stance within the Church itself to keep the Church up with the times. The sex abuse crimes hurt the Church and Pope Francis actively tried to right that wrong to a degree. The next Pope needs to continue to do that. Walking back the restrictions on the Tridentine Mass would be bad too, and be a step backwards for the Church. While that's more of a thing for really traditional Catholics, unrestricting the Tridentine Mass could further undo the outcomes of Vatican II, thus making the Church less asscessible to people. Other than that, the Pope needs to take a more liberal approach to promoting world peace, speaking out aginst things like genocides, and calling out world leaders who are, for a lack of a better word, evil.

They also likely want to stop the outflow of members from North America and Europe because, from a purely financial perspective, those areas just have more wealth overall.

 

[Chris30]

We just saw the headline on the news a few hours ago. I can't believe it, I bet his family and friends are devastated. Man...

RIP Francis

 

[Biggles]

I'm not saying liberal in that the Catholic Church needs to embrace homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia, stem cells, etc. I'm saying they need to take a liberal stance within the Church itself to keep the Church up with the times. The sex abuse crimes hurt the Church and Pope Francis actively tried to right that wrong to a degree. The next Pope needs to continue to do that. Walking back the restrictions on the Tridentine Mass would be bad too, and be a step backwards for the Church. While that's more of a thing for really traditional Catholics, unrestricting the Tridentine Mass could further undo the outcomes of Vatican II, thus making the Church less asscessible to people. Other than that, the Pope needs to take a more liberal approach to promoting world peace, speaking out aginst things like genocides, and calling out world leaders who are, for a lack of a better word, evil.

They also likely want to stop the outflow of members from North America and Europe because, from a purely financial perspective, those areas just have more wealth overall.

I understand what you are saying ... but I'm not sure that "a liberal stance" is necessarily where the Church will be heading. Look at what's happening in the world right now. Pope Francis was definitely a spokesman for a more liberal view in the Catholic Church, and was hated by conservatives & traditionalists within the Catholic Church and without. It will be interesting to see which direction the cardinals go.

 

[Strittan]

I'm not saying liberal in that the Catholic Church needs to embrace homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia, stem cells, etc.

Which is why the Catholic Church is not needed in a modern society at all. Neither is any other religion for that matter.

 

[p78]

Seeing catholicsm in Asia is booming, could we see an Asian pope?

 

[MisterWaffles]

Not too often you see a public figure make a public appearance and die almost immediately after. That was shocking to me.

Whether you like organized religion or not. Francis at least tried his best in his life to promote peace, equality and acceptance within an archaic system that seems neglectful of those qualities at the best of times. For that he deserves to have some respect on his name and to be remembered for it.

He left at a good time, we’re not completely gone yet and he got to miss the collapse. But I can only hope as democracy and decency continues to erode around the world, the next pope doesn’t shoot as far to authoritarianism as we might be anticipating.