It had to also be noted that 2 people from Coral Glades were asked their opinion on the death of Pope Francis. Tristian Block in the 11th grade said “It’s sad, he’s one of the few good popes in history, but I’m not religious. Kaden Davis, also in the 11th grade, said “It’s unfortunate, sad thing, I really like the pope so it’s sad to see him go.”
Continuing past the opinions of people here at Glades and back to the issue on hand. This means that one of the Cardinals of the Church will have to take on the mantle of Pope. The problem being is that there’s an election with more than one candidate. This man very literally speaks on behalf of God, so he can steer the entire Catholic world with every action.
This entire process stems back to Jesus and his disciples. When Jesus died on Good Friday and came back to life on Easter, the disciples took it upon themselves to spread the word of Christ. Making Saint Peter the first Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.
Ever since then, there has been an unending unbroken chain of Popes elected by Cardinals to represent the Catholic world, the largest Christian denomination. So by this logic, who has a chance of becoming the 267th Pope?
According to NBC News on April 21st, 2025, the possible next Pope could be Archbishop of Bologna, Italy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi. Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Archbishop of Budapest, Hungary, Péter Erdő. Pro-Perfect for the section of First Evangelization of the Dicastery for Evangelization for the Vatican, Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle. Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa. Archbishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith. General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops for the Vatican, Cardinal Mario Grech. Archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Muang Bo. Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. And finally, Archbishop of Quebec, Cardinal Gérald Lacroix.
All of these men have political leanings from conservative to liberal, to centrist. Maybe the Church will keep on with the liberal leaning path of Pope Francis, maybe they’ll stray from that path and become more conservative. Or they’ll try to become more centrist and unaligned with any political side to cater to the widest audience. But whoever is chosen will have immense power and will have to wield it carefully.
