Father Gerald Murray, pastor of Saint Joseph's Church in New York City, said Monday on Newsmax that he expects the College of Cardinals to elect a more conservative Pope following the death of Pope Francis, describing the likely shift as a "return to normalcy."
Pope Francis made his final public appearance Easter Sunday, offering a blessing to the crowd gathered in Saint Peter's Square. He died the following day. Just hours before his death, he had met with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance at the Vatican.
"Well, the College of Cardinals will now temporarily be in charge of the Vatican," Murray said on "Finnerty." "There's a Cardinal Dean — he's the top cardinal. And there's a Camerlengo — he's the one who makes practical arrangements."
Murray said meetings among Vatican officials will begin Tuesday morning to plan Pope Francis' funeral, while other cardinals from around the world — including Timothy Cardinal Dolan of New York — travel to Rome.
"Everything is set in terms of the ritual," he said. "In fact, Pope Francis had reformed the ritual. He made it a little more simple, less grandiose."
Francis' body will lie in state at Saint Peter's Basilica before the funeral Mass, which Murray speculated may take place on Friday or Saturday. A conclave of cardinals will then convene to select the next pontiff.
"The next step will be after the Pope's body is transported to Saint Peter's," Murray said. "There'll be a wake, a lying in state, so to speak, and large crowds of people filing through."
On the question of who might be chosen, Murray said age could play a factor in deliberations.
"A lot of truth to that," he said. "You know, people joke that the College of Cardinals is a gerontocracy… In general, the thought is we don't want too long a pontificate because if it goes wrong, we don't want it to go wrong for two decades. Right?"
Still, Murray acknowledged the benefits of a longer papacy.
"Continuity under John Paul II was one of the gifts we had," he said. "The fall of the Communist empire was under John Paul II, and then he brought us into the new millennium."
When asked whether the next Pope would follow Pope Francis' more liberal approach or embrace a conservative tradition like that of Pope John Paul II or Pope Benedict XVI, Murray predicted a shift.
"I think it's going to be a return. And I would say the word restoration or return to normalcy," he said.
He noted several controversial aspects of Francis' papacy.
"Pope Francis did so many good and normal things, but he did some abnormal things," Murray said. "No Pope ever said that same-sex couples deserve a blessing as couples. No Pope ever said people divorced and remarried deserve to receive communion."
He also criticized Francis' diplomatic engagement with China.
"This Pope also, quite frankly, has embraced the Communist Chinese Party by giving them power to name bishops," he said.
The Vatican has not yet announced the date of the funeral or the start of the conclave.
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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