Who Will Be the Next Pope If Pope Francis Doesn’t Recover

As the frail 88-year-old Pope Francis remains in critical condition, some look to the next Pope and wonder if he will be another Francis. We don’t know, but the odds are stacked in favor of a Progressive Pope. I don’t think we can afford another political partisan as Pope.

The College of Cardinals

The College of Cardinals elects the Pope. Since becoming Pope, Francis has pushed conservative Cardinals out of the Vatican and rushed to appoint far-left Archbishops as Cardinals.

The College of Cardinals, more formally called the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all Catholic Cardinals. As of December 28, 2023, there are 240 cardinals, of whom 132 are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope.

Following the 2023 consistory, [convention 99 of the cardinal electors had been appointed by Francis, 29 by Pope Benedict XVI, and 9 by Pope John Paul II.[1] Each of Francis’ consistories has increased the number of cardinal electors from less than the set limit of 120[b] to a number higher than 120, as high as 137 in 2023,[2] surpassing the record 135 set by Pope John Paul II in 2001 and 2003.[3] Since 2 June 2023, two-thirds of the cardinal electors have been cardinals created by Francis.[4] The September 2023 consistory increased that to about 73%.[1]

Speculation over some of the more prominent cardinals in line for the pontiff include Cardinals Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state; Peter Turkson, of Ghana, who served as president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; and Luis Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples since December 2019 and former archbishop of Manila. Some other possible considerations include Cardinals Matteo Zuppi (who is positive about LGBT0, Gerhard Müller, Angelo Scola, Angelo Bagnasco, Raymond Burke, Robert Sarah, and Malcolm Ranjith.

They say Parolin is moderate, but he doesn’t appear to be to me.

Gateway Pundit lists possibilities:

“Liberals within the Church are big fans of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, a 67-year-old cardinal from the Philippines. Dubbed ‘the Asian Francis’ for his good humor and progressive views on issues such as homosexuality and divorced Catholics who remarry, if elected he would be the first Asian pope. Unlike in the West, where secularism is on the rise, Catholicism is booming in many parts of Asia. ‘He’s a frontrunner and he would represent continuity’, said a Vatican observer. ‘But there’s a question mark over whether he would have the backbone, the spine, for the governance of the Church’.”

Another name that has emerged just this week is that of Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, a 59-year-old Franciscan and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. He is Italian but has broad experience of the wider world, having spent decades in the Middle East. He speaks Italian, Hebrew, and English and could be expected to continue the legacy of Pope Francis.”

There is Cardinal Peter Erdo who is conservative, as is Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke.

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