"Francis appointed nearly 80% of the cardinal electors who will choose the next pope, increasing the possibility that his successor will continue his progressive policies, despite the strong pushback from traditionalists."

https://www.reuters.com/world/pope-francis-has-died-vatican-says-video-statement-2025-04-21/

Yeah. It's more than annoying, especially as it's the same old Vance joke again and again and again. Which isn't even clever.

I am not a Christian by any means but I worked with them quite often. Francis did change a lot of things and while he wasn't in no way perfect - he did have his drawbacks, for a fucking pope he was much better than anyone before him within the last few hundred years. People (especially on the internet)nowadays expect other people, especially political leaders to "check all their boxes" and if one thing is not going as far as they want, they are alienated.

Often I have the impression that as long as someone is not going "all the way" in the right direction they are seen as bad as someone who does not do anything at all or goes in the wrong direction. (Which is ironic because the church itself has evolved past the "saint or sinner" directive)

Francis has been going in the right direction probably 60% of the way and 10% in the wrong direction. Is the Catholic church there yet? No. Is there a big chance it might turn back? Yes. Would he been elected if he was so reformist it was sure he would topple everything and go 100%? Surely not.

But he did much more than any of his predecessors did.

Any much more most commenters do.

Besides: It's okay to feel sorry for an old man dying. That's called fucking compassion. I work in healthcare and have seen a lot of people die. I feel sorry for almost all of them.

In the end a human has died. Period.

I don't expect a conservative backlash, on the contrary Francis's Pontificate has weakened the conservative wing considerably. Given that 80% of the voting cardinals were appointed by Pope Francis, I would expect them to elect a successor that continues in the same direction, perhaps even a more radical one.

During his pontificate Francis also made a lot of efforts to bring in new groups into the corridors of power. Not only by his appointment of cardinals, but also e.g. by reforming the Curia with Praedicate evangelium.

As a non-Catholic American, I have the same worry for the global geopolitics. It just so happens that the united states is part of those geopolitics.

It sure feels like the tides are turning conservative everywhere, but apparently a Filipino progressive is a favorite to be next

We should spread the news that Vance killed him!

Honestly, it's not even hat far fetched. He probably denied visits because he was in bad health, yet Americans probably pushed to meet anyway

JD Vance: "How long have you worked here?"

As others have said, Francis also stacked the electors who will be deciding the next pope, so it is possible that his successor will also be just as progressive (well, progressive for the leader of a conservative religious institution, at least).

It's a funny thought, but he's not a cardinal or even a priest. Not just any Catholic can be Pope.

Edit: turns out, yes, any Catholic can theoretically be pope

Many people are asking "Did JD Vance have a hand in the Pope's death?"

He died the very next day.

He even opted out of the traditional, expensive papal funeral and requested to just be laid in state and then buried in a wooden coffin lined with zinc.

There's some hope.... part of Francis' papacy involved him promoting more open-minded cardinals (who are the ones who choose popes) but we'll see

My sincere hope is that the Catholic Church looks at how they were perceived under Benedict—a staunchly conservative Pope that led to massive losses in respect, attendance, and relevance; and how they were perceived under Francis—an actually compassionate and humble servant of the Church and its people. And based on that, they choose another Pope who's in the same vein as Francis to continue bringing the Church into this century. There is still decades of work to be done, but we absolutely can't go backwards right now.