If you, like me, have the television habits of a Boomer and watch the local news every night, chances are you’re becoming Pope Pilled. The passing of Pope Francis earlier this week has resulted in a slew of somber and admiring retrospectives on his tenure as the leader of the Catholic Church.
As a non-Catholic who mostly remembers the Pope as the guy who said that there was an “air of f*ggotry” in the Vatican (yes), he was surprisingly, relatively chill about gay people, called repeatedly for a ceasefire in Gaza, cared deeply about sick people and children, and seemed dedicated to the idea of a church built on service for the people on the margins. He was more personable than the scary former Nazi Youth Pope before him, and his emphasis on caring for refugees and immigrants made him a unique leader at a time when they’ve become public enemy number one in several increasingly rightward nations.
Can a Pope be a good egg? I don’t know. But I did think it was significant that my friend Kevin texted me, “As a Brazilian Catholic, I’ll say that he is the only Argentinian I’ve ever liked.”
I mean, I wouldn’t reach out to the guy if I needed an abortion, but from a layman’s perspective, he appeared to be pretty progressive as far as Popes go. And while there are fears that the next pope might be more conservative, there’s some hope that the cardinals Pope Francis appointed, who share his view of how to take Catholicism into the future, could ascend to…popehood.
Anyway, I’m learning a lot in real time. The Conclave fandom is salivating, the weird Trad Caths are shaking (maybe? Idk someone check up on one of those podcast girls), and J.D. Vance is being accused of murdering the Pope. How exciting! So I’ve decided to ask a bunch of Catholics in my life and from the internet what the fuck they think about what’s going on.
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