“Put not your trust in princes, nor in the children of men, in whom there is no salvation.” (Psalm 146:3, Douay–Rheims translation)
On 08th May 2025, at approximately 09.30 PM IST (GMT+5:30), the first ‘breaking news’ of the Conclave that convened within the Vatican just a day earlier, started displaying white smoke, indicating that the conclave of Cardinals had reached a unanimous decision signifying the election of a new leader among them. This was followed by bells being rung at Saint Peters Square in the Vatican, and showing the lay faithful gathered there elated over the news. As I watched the dramatic history unfold on EWTN, I noticed an elated and twitchy Cardinal Wuerl among the forefront of the crowd gathered at Saint Peters Square.
He was beaming, the smile on his face extending from ‘ear to ear’. For those of you who are not familiar with Vatican politics and backstories, Cardinal Donald Wuerl is an American Cardinal who served as the Archbishop of Washington from 2006 to 2018, being made a Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI during this tenure, and retiring in 2019 after Cardinal Wilton Gregory replaced him. He took on the role at the Washington archdiocese following the defrocking of his infamous predecessor, ‘Uncle Ted’ McCarrick, the serial homosexual abuser. Cardinal Wuerl was known to be a liberal with several accusations of mishandling abuse cases, with further hushed allegations of coverups of these abuse cases, either in previous tenures or his last one, that was as Archbishop of the Washington Diocese.
While the EWTN live coverage rambled along speculating who the Pope could be and what would or could happen next, I knew just by looking at Wuerl’s body language for the very briefest of moments, that he knew who was elected as Pope. Of course, to those among the more in-house personnel, such as Wuerl, the trickling grapevine is one of the few perks of being a Vatican insider although he was not eligible to vote at the conclave. I mentioned casually to my wife, that Cardinal Wuerl seemed to know who it was that was elected; On X (formerly known as Twitter), I also posted my suspicions of Cardinal Wuerl’s foreknowledge.
I also asked of a commentator who shared similar sentiments as me, expressing that seeing Cardinal Wuerl beaming wasn’t great news, and if he knew if this meant that Cardinal Prevost was likely as Pope.
Cardinal Wuerl’s visibly apparent knowledge, based on his expression and body language, meant only one thing. The election of Prevost as Pope. I had previously read that the most likely American among the papabili Cardinals was Robert Prevost, whom I had learnt of only very recently thanks to an article posted by J.D.Flynn from ‘the Pillar’. Prevost, was also reported to have been backed by Cardinal Wuerl (the source of which I am strangely unable to locate on the internet anymore, although this was readily available minutes before Prevost emerged from the loggia), and that notorious LGBT-pandering priest, Fr. James Martin, who seems to take an unhealthy interest in the LGBT brigade and their ‘concerns’ (to be read as ‘demands’) for some reason (gee, I really wonder why Jimmy), along with Pope Francis’s BFF cheerleader-biographer, Austen Ivereigh, who seemed to have a very apparent support for Prevost (click here & here)
It was now sufficiently clear to me why Wuerl was so gleefully buzzing around Saint Peters square as though he was awaiting Elton John to take centre stage. I commented as below on my X handle.
A few minutes later, Prevost emerged on the loggia.
Let’s get down to brass tacks. There will be enough mud to muddy the Catholic water in the form of platitudes, accolades, compliments & acclaims from other pundits and sources citing how humble, down to earth he is, a friend of the poor, a builder of bridges, a modest person, someone who prefers dialogue, encounter, willing to listen, willing to accompany, pastoral, the whole shebang-ery. There will even be those posts of ‘hope’ from those who were dismayed and who despaired through the Francis papacy, who are hoping against hope that the gander will lay an egg this time, now that we have a new Pope.
Perhaps this post here will reflect the pessimistic sentiments of Morgan Freeman, who personified the role of ‘Red’ in the movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. In the movie, Freeman, tells our protagonist Andy Dufrense, that “Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane”. See, I have to be realistic. And one of the things that come naturally as part of my previous career and experience in the real world is that of learning from trends, and from what I glean, I am unable to see a significant ‘hard a starboard’ turn, in the form of a return to a reasonable form of Tradition by the modernists in the Vatican. Let me explain why Prevost will make little difference to the hopes of many.
Factional push and pull:
From the experience gained after the election of Jorge Bergoglio as Pope Francis, it was immensely clear that the Holy Spirit does not descend like a dove on the Cardinal of choice, pointing him out to the rest of the cardinals. People who believe this nonsense can be excused for being all things ultramontane. However, the truth is that Conclaves are in every way politicked by men. Especially men who are either power hungry, who have their own axe to grind or agenda to fulfil and want their will to be imposed without a care for the will of God and the duties of a pontiff. During the Francis pontificate for example, in books written by influential figures such as ‘Saint Gallen’s Mafia’ by journalist Julia Meloni, ‘Infiltration’ by Dr. Taylor Marshall, ‘The Dictator Pope’ by Henry Sire, and ‘The Political Pope’ by George Neumayr, one gets to visualize the impact bought about by the hobnobbing Cardinals who met at Saint Gallen in Switzerland, and who engineered the Conclave which allowed their own pawn in the form of Pope Francis to rule from the seat of St. Peter. It must be emphasized that the views reflected in the books mentioned above are not opinions, but well referenced and detailed facts, especially the book by Julia Meloni.
To the runup to the current conclave, in fact ever since Pope Francis was hospitalised, there was news doing the rounds of various factions that were converging among the Cardinals. From the Conservatives to the Moderates, to the Left leaning Modernists, there were at least 3 factions. But soon rumours started emerging that some of the players, such as Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who was shown by the facetious media to be a strange ‘moderate’, was trying to get the support from the Conservative faction in exchange for supposed concessions such as allowing the Traditional Latin Mass, and other such minor ‘offers’ to ‘sweeten the deal’ in exchange for more conservative support. There were also unusually timed media reports of some Cardinals being exposed for their involvement in supposed sexual abuse coverups, while some had their image sullied by being shown to be pathological gamblers. It was rumoured that Cardinal Parolin had something to do with these smear campaigns. Then there was the red herring of a health scare about Pietro Parolin himself; It is still not clear what that was all about.
The interesting aspect of Cardinal Prevost’s election was how quickly it came about in only 2 days since commencement, indicating that there was a very likely agreement among the Cardinals. How such an ‘agreement’ could have been garnered within a short period, would be an interesting question to which hints and indicators would certainly start coming in within a few days or weeks and we will have to be tuned to such readings. Interestingly Cardinal Pietro Parolin was seen on the loggia, with Cardinal Prevost (the now Pope Leo XIV). Take that to mean what you want.
The point I make here, is to how these ‘deals’ by the Pope makers are unlikely to result in the actual incumbent Pope making independent decisions that are not in the interest of those who have elevated him.
Politicking agenda:
‘Catholic Sat’ posted on X by sharing a screen capture of the last few posts of Cardinal Prevost’s X handle.
This reflects the new Pope’s interests, which are clearly aligned to the USCCB agenda, and against the President/Vice President of the USA, by singing the same tune as the rest of the USCCB bishops/cardinals, and being the voice of Pope Francis to refugees and immigrants, legal or illegal. I had written about this previously indicating that “If a conclave is convened while the USCCB is still bitterly embroiled in fighting with the American government, there may be a likelihood that the next Pope could be someone who shares a similar ‘sentiment’ as the USCCB and is seen as a savvy negotiator to broker deals with the American government for grants and aid”. Although the Supreme Court had already quashed any hopes that the USCCB had to legally challenge POTUS regarding the cancellation of the aid, is this a move to claw back precious dollars through savvy negotiations? I think so, but we will have to wait and see how it plays out.
Synodality and other Modernist machinations:
Prevost had come to the conclave as a known supporter of Pope Francis’s key initiative: Synodality. With Synodality being the lens with which Pope Leo XIV sees the Church, I don’t think that we can expect much from Prevost. Conservatives will be understandably over the moon about the fact that he does not support abortion, his views against transgenderism, and his lack of support for women’s ordination as priests. However, it is unclear where he stands on traditional issues such as Same Sex Marriage or restoring the Traditional Latin Mass, and it is unlikely that he will make changes to his predecessors faulty and unjust decrees such as Traditionis Custodes, Amoris Laetitia, and Fiducia Supplicans, given that he already paid homage to Pope Francis in his loggia address. He is also expected to maintain the status quo on Climate Change alarmism and the Vatican-China deal. With that being said, it seems that this will more-or-less be a continuation of the legacy of Pope Francis. In fact, I was surprised at the choice of a traditional sounding papal name such as Leo XIV. Pope Leo XIII the last of the papal ‘Leos’, was an anti-liberal and anti-modernist pope who did a lot to ensure that the church was steered through the rocky edifice of errors and heresy. If the indication from the support provided by Fr. James Martin, Cardinal Wuerl, and Austen Ivereigh is anything to go by, it is unlikely that Prevost would be another Leo XIII.
Closing thoughts
To those conservatives and Traditionalists who feel that this is a cynical post, they need to realize that the only palpable ‘hope’ of actual meaningful change cannot be based on a concessionary, ‘I-scratch-your-back, you-scratch-mine’ kind of Pope, a Pope who is made by Kingmakers, in and through backroom deals. The Pope, if we are to have a true one, has to have clarity and courage to return to Tradition and wage a war on the Modernists installed since Vatican II. This will have to be a ruthless – yet merciful through wisdom & insight, sharp, intelligent, humble and a honest Pope, who is subservient to Truth and to Christ. Someone like a Pius X (in recent memory), who would make no compromises or would ‘draw no quarter’ so to speak. He would also need the assistance of the agency of Cardinals and Bishops who are like minded and as zealous as St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. George, or even St. Joan of Arc. These heroic and leader-like, courage worthy traits are completely absent in our esteemed Bishops and papabili Cardinals (with all due respect to each of them). The ‘few good men’ such as Cardinal Burke, Cardinal Sarah, Bishop Strickland, Archbishop Vigano, or even the silent ones such as Cardinals Pizzaballa, Ranjith or Erdő, are viewed with deficient gravitas in keeping with the Vatican standards of Synodality. How is it thus even possible to fantasize of a Pope in the vein of a Pope Pius X?
Returning to the Shawshank Redemption, the movie I mentioned earlier. Our protagonist Andy Dufrense in his later letter to Red responds to him that “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies”. Maybe then, it is time to re-evaluate in whom we are putting our ‘hope’. Is it in men like the late Pope Francis and now Pope Leo XIV? Or is it in our final Saviour and Redeemer?
May Mary our Mother pray for the Church and our Pope, especially in this month which is dedicated to her, and the anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions which commenced on the 13th May, 1917. May Saint Joseph, Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Pope Pius X, Archangel Michael and the rest of the heavenly host pray for our Pope and for all Catholics.
Ave Maria
A Concerned Catholic
