As black smoke signaled no clear winner after the first vote of the papal conclave, a prominent Catholic commentator said on Newsmax, Wednesday, that there's a growing chance the next Pope will be an Italian-born cleric serving in Israel.
C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, told "The Chris Salcedo Show" that the College of Cardinals may shift away from Pope Francis’ controversial legacy when choosing the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
"Well, I think there's some reasonable hope that we won't have a Francis the Second," Doyle said.
While Francis appointed 108 of the 133 cardinal electors — prompting concerns that he may have "stacked the deck" — Doyle noted that 54 appointments came from the Third World. He argued that these cardinals are "not quite as invested in progressive causes, and particularly the LGBT agenda, as First World Catholics," which could lead to a more traditional successor.
Doyle also pointed to growing dissatisfaction within the Vatican bureaucracy. "The curial cardinals, who aren't particularly conservative, nonetheless are suffering from a serious case of Francis fatigue," he said. "They like things ordered, orderly and regular. He was erratic, arbitrary [and] unpredictable. He made up the rules as he went along."
Another factor, Doyle suggested, is resistance from even Francis' allies to some of his most divisive reforms. "Even some centrist and even left-of-center cardinals who were very close to Francis, like [Cardinal Sean] O'Malley in Boston, didn’t join Francis in this campaign to kind of denigrate traditionalists and suppress the ancient Latin Mass," Doyle said. "They made no changes in the Latin Mass in the Archdiocese of Boston."
Those signs, Doyle argued, offer "a little bit of hope" that Francis’ most contentious policies may not define the next papacy.
Asked whether the conclave may select an older, short-term "placeholder pope" or a younger, reform-minded candidate, Doyle said the church is more likely to seek stability following Francis' turbulent tenure.
"After all the division and confusion of Francis, they want simply a placeholder. They want somebody that's going to be stable, that's going to be there a while, is going to repair some of the damage," Doyle said.
Among the top candidates, he named Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, as a potential front-runner.
"I think Pizzaballa, who's like 59 or 60 years old, is a possibility," Doyle said. "The last time, they kind of kept the papacy in the family by electing an Italian from South America. This time, they might elect an Italian from Israel."
More than 130 cardinals began the secretive conclave process Wednesday inside the Vatican's Sistine Chapel, forming the most geographically diverse electorate in the 2,000-year history of the church.
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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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