Who will be the next Pope?

I am not hoping for Pope John Paul to die. Mixed in with some things I disagree with he has done some very good things. He had more to do with pushing the Soviet Union over the edge than St. Reagan. imho.

But does anyone know about the contenders to send up the puff of white smoke?

I understand Pope John Paul has loaded the pool of Cardinals up with conservatives. Is that true?

Aren't there some kind of predictions as to how many more Popes there are suppose to be? Seems like someone said we will only have one or two more by their end of the shindig predictions.

What about this fellow? This article is from 2001.


http://www.888webtoday.com/lustiger.html

The next Jewish pope

Intellect and intimacy ... Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger.

His mother was burned in the ovens of Auschwitz, yet he converted to Catholicism, rose to the zenith of power in the church, and could become its next leader. Jean-Marie Lustiger spoke with Paul Sheehan.

He started life as Aaron Lustiger. Now he is Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, prince of the Catholic Church, confidant of Pope John Paul II. As the Pope grows more and more frail, Cardinal Lustiger, the Archbishop of Paris, grows more crucial to the leadership of the church.

"When he says Mass at Notre Dame the place is always crammed and when he walks through the crowd it is a sight to behold," says Professor Colin Nettelbeck, head of the school of languages at Melbourne University, who studied at the Sorbonne while Lustiger was a chaplain there.

As one of the world's most influential and charismatic intellectuals, he is giving lectures in Sydney and Melbourne this week. But if you want to see him speak and don't have a ticket, forget it. Both events sold out long ago.

The cardinal is not exactly intimidated by intellectual fashion. Having seen, first hand, the rise and crash of nazism, communism and Marxism, and now the rise of globalism and consumerism, he takes a long-term view: he does not think the church needs to enter into a popularity contest.

"I'm sorry Jesus Christ did not have a good public relations office because maybe he wouldn't have had the bad problem of being crucified," he told the Herald during an interview this weekend.

which I agree with, is that the next Pope will be an older, non-controversial Italian, chosen as a placeholder until the church figures out how to deal with the reactionary papacy that seems about to end.

Second last pope too.

Many think that it's actually Ratzinger who has been speaking on
behalf of JPII for the past couple of years. A total reactionary.
Anybody but him ....

since they aren't allowed to campaign. There could be dozens of possibilites.

I really hope someone bugs the meeting and translates it into English.

Secret politcal meetings are fascinating.

May I ask why is there so much obsession with the Pope? After all, he is just head of a religious group and holds no political power. I would argue that he has done little to benefit mankind, and religion is just a tool to control the weak minded....

Say what? What is his official title?

Vicar of Christ, Bishop of Rome, Pope, Holder of the Holy See....

Political power is not only held by elected officials. The Pope is a world leader and has a billion followers. That is political power.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

billion Catholics in probably every country in the world, not to mention all the schools, hospitals and the church also is the largest landowner on the planet with some of the most valuable real estate on the planet.

The church is the worldest largest corporation and he is the "CEO" to speak.....

Religion isn't really a tool to control the weak minded, everyone on up to the Pope honestly believes in their enterprise. Religion does neither bad nor good, it simply exists in all its complexity and nuances. It is a phenomenon present in good and bad people and situations, a product of human socialization.

If you ask me religion does more bad than good. Count the number of people that have been killed in the name of "god", and then count the other reasons. And root of all conflicts that are happening to today are based on religion....

P.S. And as far as the weak minded goes, you don't have to look as far as our pResident....

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

is chosen.

is that we're going to get a more conservative pope, and that the growing movement to roll back vatican II will get a lot of steam behind it.

I think we are going to see a far more conservative Pope next and if they think American Catholics are troublesome now, they ain't see nothing yet.

us north American catholics generate a *lot* of the Church's revenue, but if they seriously push too hard, too fast they'll have a schism on their hands.

the American church is in trouble, but Rome doesn't care, for whatever reason.

And it would be the biggest mistake the Church has made yet, IMO.

O8) :toast: :sarcasm:

...that what you call the "growing movement" has actually been ongoing for a couple of decades now, and may be losing steam.

Despite the short-term surge in popularity due to JPII's personal charisma, I think the question would have to be asked, "is the Church better off now than it was in 1978?" I think it would be hard to give that an affirmative answer. And that's not a knock on the (still) current Pontiff, but a sign that retrenchment and conservatism may not have paid off in that glorious return to the 1950s and before that many traditionalists envisioned.

Now, the fact is that the Cardinals appointed during the past twenty-five years have been generally conservative, and would be likely to choose someone equally conservative. And, yet...while it was politic for one's own advancement to toe the Vatican line with zeal, I can't help but wonder how many of these Cardinals are asking themselves the same question I did above, and might be wondering if a new approach might be needed. It's still a less-than-even chance, but surprises have been known to happen before, once representatives no longer had to say what the top leader wanted to hear. And, remember, Mikhail Gorbachev, prior to becoming Soviet Premier, had been effusive in his support for every one of his predecessors from Stalin on down. When times of change come, don't count on everyone acting in a strictly predictable manner.

They may find that they have picked someone who isn't who they may have thought. It could become real interesting.

I wish the one before John Paul had more time behind the wheel. Didn't he die after like a month or so? I think they called him the "smiling" Pope.

and it's just possible that there may be enough cardinals with sense
to see that they will lose ground if they try to keep rolling back
Vatican II.

I came through the era of change myself, and there's no way I'd want
to go back to the old days of restriction, and being treated like a
child - everything Catholics did in their lives was regulated, as if
we were totally brainless. Subsequent generations, who have so
much freedom of thought in their lives, would never stand for the
rigid authoritarianism of the pre-Vatican II church; they would up
and leave in greater numbers than they are now.

But I'm not optimistic - I think the Church will make the mistake
of trying undo the good work of Pope John XXIII, and they will only
learn the hard way, if then.

JP II was a bit of a surprise to the College of Cardinals, who had not elected a man so young and not Italian in a very long time.

Look at John XXII. He was 77 when elevated, only served for five years, and his was the most transformative and liberal papacy in the history of the Church.

What is the latest on the Fatima predictions? Wasn't the third prediction the Pope was on top of a pile of bodies and he gets shot with an arrow? I think the Pope & Co. say that has already come to pass, like when he was shot. What you think?

Anyhwo, seems like in some form or fashion the Catholic Church actually predicted its own problems.

Anyone know what the hell I am talking about jump in!!! haha

I can't remember who or what made that prediction. I'm sure we will hear and read more about this stuff if JPII dies.