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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   18167 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 5, 2025

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Congratulations United States, you are Pope!

Edit: Sorry if that is too short but I am currently watching the livestream from Europe and am totally baffled.

Apparently a progressive in general terms, albeit not a radical one by the standards of the church.

I find the lack of info a bit strange. Presumably, he was in the top ten candidates, so I would have expected newspapers to have a full dossier on him. Just because the Catholics might not care much for his politics in this moment, it does not mean that the rest of the world should adopt the same standards.

The Guardian has mostly his biographic data. BBC has a bit of commentary:

As 80% of the cardinals who took part in the conclave were appointed by Francis, it is not all that surprising that someone like Prevost was elected, even if he was only recently appointed.

He will be seen as a figure who favoured the continuity of Francis' reforms in the Catholic Church.

Prevost is believed to have shared Francis' views on migrants, the poor and the environment.

Although he is an American, and will be fully aware of the divisions within the Catholic Church, his Latin American background also represents continuity after a Pope who came from Argentina.

During his time as archbishop in Peru he has not escaped the sexual abuse scandals that have clouded the Church, however his diocese fervently denied he had been involved in any attempted cover-up.

So he might be American, but probably is not MAGA-adjacent.

Presumably, he was in the top ten candidates

As the saying goes, those who go into the conclave as papabile come out still cardinals. I didn't see his name on those lists in the media about Top Sixteen Picks For Pope, which doesn't surprise me. I'm genuinely surprised by this election. I would never have bet on the First North American Pope. And it happened during Trump's administration too - Making America Even Greater by the day! 😁

I didn't see his name on those lists in the media about Top Sixteen Picks For Pope, which doesn't surprise me.

Were Francis or Benedict on those lists? I may not be recalling well now, but I seem to recall "wait, who now?" as the response to some of the papal announcements in my lifetime despite lots of commentary on likely candidates.

Ratzinger was the overwhelming consensus in 2005. Bergoglio was genuinely surprising to secular media but informed watchers would have had him as papabile.

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