What is the cornered Pope Francis going to do? PopeWatch suspects he will follow the lead of some Roman Emperors who, facing an angry populace, would behead an unpopular advisor and throw his head to the angry mob. So he needs a scapegoat. PopeWatch has heard that Cardinal Wuehl has been summoned to Rome. Better start practicing your goat walk your Eminence. Put your predictions in the combox.
PopeWatch: Predictions
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 41 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
A miracle will take place!
He, PF, will take full responsibility for his sins.
He will beg for forgiveness knowing full well that it is his only move. Any other attempt to smoke and mirrors his way out will only increase the growing disdain that heterosexual religious and lay communities already hold towards him.
The Truth will set you free, will echo and reverberate within him.
He will choose life.
He will do the right thing.
I suspect that deflection will be master. Perhaps he’ll return to meatless Fridays? Public confessions for the laity? Maybe another synod–this time on…well, filial obedience. (prepare to answer another survey of the faithful #____)
However did God’s Church crumble so rapidly?
I just finished a Rosary for him to come clean.
For healing for the families and for Holy Church.
Nothing is impossible for God.
He wil defy to the end and blame it all on conservatives. Remember – he is a Marxist Peronist Argentinian.
There is no indication that the Pope has any well-considered social theory in his head, Marxist or otherwise.
That aside, I’ll wager the Pope will rank-order prelates according to the degree to which they are credible scapegoats and then rank-order them according to the degree of favor they have with him. The sweet spot as far as he’s concerned is a minimally credible candidate who enjoys the least favor. Cdl. Wuerl is past the standard retirement age, was elevated by John Paul and Benedict rather than Francis, and is the Vicar of Bray, not a true papal favorite. He gets rid of Donnie he can put some Cupich clone in the see.
On the one hand, as a parishioner in his diocese, I will be pleased to see Wuerl go. On the other hand, my enthusiasm for his departure is mitigated by the knowledge Francis would choose his successor.
OT
Philip Nachazel thanks for being a good Christian. Your comments often mitigate the worst emotions that rise within me.
ken
Your welcome.
My sins, past and forgiven yet not totally cleared of damages done, help me to have perspective. I’m only a practicing Catholic that is sickened by our leadership and the lack thereof. I must remember that I too am guilty of abandoning the faith years ago… through my own sins of omission and sins of lust.
I too have been raised from the dead, born in Spirit, and trying now to live a new life. I pray that Christ can be found in me. My new goal.
You do realize that the alternate explanation, most prominently voiced by Church Militant, is that +++Wuehl will “flee” to Rome to avoid the civil authorities in the US. (Wasn’t that the Law response?). There is even some talk of freezing his passport to prevent that from happening The next step is far from clear, but a Rosary can’t hurt, as they say.
I doubt if the Feds will do anything like that.
You do realize that the alternate explanation, most prominently voiced by Church Militant, is that +++Wuehl will “flee” to Rome to avoid the civil authorities in the US. (Wasn’t that the Law response?). There is even some talk of freezing his passport to prevent that from happening The next step is far from clear, but a Rosary can’t hurt, as they say.
1. No it wasn’t Law’s ‘response’. Law resigned as Cdl. Archbishop and was then posted to a position as chaplain of a small community of women religious. After a time, the Pope appointed him to a position supervising a historic basilica in Rome. Law wasn’t facing any criminal charges.
2. As for Wuerl, I fail to see how he is criminally liable for the sexual perversions of his predecessor. McCarrick hit on seminarians. That may be tortious and (at one time) good for a minor criminal charge. Since McCarrick is now 87 years old, any liability would likely be time-barred. Wuerl was Bishop of Pittsburgh and before that Auxilliary Bishop of Seattle.
There is always the ill-defined obstruction of justice charge prosecutors hold in their back pocket.
With the God of Surprises, who knows what will happen next? My guess, it gets the dubia treatment for as long as possible. If running out the clock doesn’t work, a suitable scapegoat is found – maybe not even a “scapegoat” in the sense the person chosen is innocent of wrongdoing. Wuerl is a good candidate – expendable, implicated, would give appearance of “things getting done.” It all really depends on whether the Lavender Mafia thinks it has gotten all the mileage they can out of Bergoglio or if they still want more from him. I suspect this brood of vipers is not beyond turning on each other if need be.
The Louis Renault play would be to reassign Wuerl (round up the usual suspects!)and laicize McCarrick (shocked! to find
gamblingpederasty going on here!)We all know McCarrick was forced to give up the Cardinal’s hat but that means nothing now. He was not laicized and he should have been.
Cardinal Wuerl…..our former Pittsburgh Bishop……skillful politician and foe of all things traditional Catholic, and kingmaker in re Cupich & McElroy… what will the Pope do? Accept his three year old resignation? That’s about it. Knowing this Pope, the Archdiocese of Washington is about to get someone worse, and there ARE worse. Lose the Cardinal hat? No big deal at this point.
The media and the laity need to put pressure on the Holy See. Bergoglio has to go.
sigh….
There is always the ill-defined obstruction of justice charge prosecutors hold in their back pocket.
Who do you fancy would be prosecuted by whom?
How many times has Francis spoken of his papacy being short lived? Many. He has also mentioned that a pope retiring a la Benedict may become routine. “Being pope should not be a job for a life time” or words to that effect.
So the prediction is the brain tumor is back. Francis will resign for health reasons and retire back in Argentina which is safer being far Lavender hands. In some quarters, he will get sympathy for his illness. He lack of leadership and oversight (I’m being polite here) will be excused because he wasn’t, pause, really in his right mind.
“With the God of Surprises, who knows what will happen next?”
No one knows, but we do know that the word “Surprise” is not in the Divine Vocabulary. God is not “Surprised”, because God is God. I on the other hand would be surprised if pope Francis knows that.
Cardinal Wuehl turned in his mandatory request for retirement at age 75 several years ago. It would be very easy for the Pope to simply accept it and have rumors started that it is his fault. the Pope can fire someone else for cause, but he tries to act on the path of less resistance and the others would be in a position to make an embarrassing protest.
I am asking God to purify the Catholic Church no matter the cost. Please agree with me in prayer on this, brethren.
To me, the truly important question in all this is ‘what effect will
this have on the next conclave?’ Will the St. Gallen Group / Lavender
Mafia elect another of their ilk, or will the naked failure and moral
bankruptcy of this pontificate turn the necessary majority of
Cardinals against them? I pray that enough Cardinal Electors are
sickened by Francis and his friends, so that the vermin currently
in charge lose their grip on the Chair of Peter. Is that too much
to hope?
God bless you, Philip. I know many of us pray for the Pope’s conversion of heart daily, so maybe we’ll get that miracle. And miracle it would be.
My guess is he will do nothing beyond accepting Wuerl’s resignation, if that. I don’t believe he will resign. When the Lord takes him, we will get a new Pope. That’s when we really may need a miracle.