The Pontificate

"[Reports of an ultraconservative front-runner is] nonsense. [Pope Francis appointed 80 percent of the cardinals] and they are not going to elect someone who is then going to stand up and say that the Francis papacy was a disaster and we're going back to the old church."

"That is not going to happen."

Reverend Thomas Reese, U.S. priest

 

"Overall, conservative Catholics would just like some clarity and theological substance from Rome."

"I have heard from 'folks in the pew' that they would also appreciate clear theological teaching on a host of matters [not all related to the hot button issues], rather than what appears to have been an obsession with politics."

Reverend Robert Sirico, Priest-commentator, Michigan 

"[It is inappropriate to separate cardinals into] these wrong categories, between conservative and liberal."

"Because Jesus didn't found two wings [of the church] ... there's one church, and the church is united in the faith in Jesus Christ."

"And there is no conservative baptism or the progressive baptism."

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller 

On May 7, 2025, cardinals will gather to start the process of electing a new leader of the Catholic Church to succeed Pope Francis.  Buda Mendes—Getty Images

 

Pope Francis's successor is a matter of great public interest, and not only within the Catholic Church. Speculation has run wild over whether the eventual successor who will emerge when the conclave of Archbishops wraps up some time after May 7 by announcing the name of the next Pope, will continue Francis's relaxation of traditional church values, or one committed to returning the church to the state that Popes John Paul II and Benedict left it in.

 

Among many, hope looms large that the next pontiff will represent a return to tradition, someone will be chosen from among traditionalists who remained oppositional to Pope Francis's introduction of values seen to be inimical to Roman Catholicism's deeply held and cherished positions held by Francis to be too inflexible, shutting out the faithful, compromised by their generally-agreed-upon unsuitability to be welcomed into the Church resulting from their unorthodox life choices.

 

A possible contender for the pontificate whose name has been bruited about is Raymond Burke, an advocate for the traditional Latin Mass. According to the Rev. Gerald Murray, a conservative commentator, cardinals selecting the new pope are "going to return to a more John Paul II-, Benedict-style and substance of governance in the church."

 

Cardinals are pictured united in prayer at the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican on April 26, 2025. Jakub Porzycki - Getty Images

 

Among some archconservatives a campaign has been launched to propel one among their own group to the forefront of discussions over a successor to Pope Francis. Burke is among those names which has placed at the top of some lists. Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea, and Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana have both managed to find favour among those who believe the next pope should come from among those places in the world where Catholicism is steadily growing, even while it declines in the West.

 

Conservatives find themselves at odds with those within the church who approve of the direction that Pope Francis took the church. "A large number of American conservative Catholics would basically dream of having Cardinal Burke as the next pope, but they're disconnected to reality", longtime figure in American conservative Catholic media, Alejandro Bermudez, stated, consulting for the news site Catholic Vote.

 

Visitors stand silhouetted with the colonnade and the St Peter's Basilica in the background at St Peter's Square in The Vatican, May 2, 2025.  Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images

While at the same time a senior Vatican official speaking anonymously dismissed both Burke and Sarah and any candidates with values similar to theirs. "There is no space for them in the [minds of] the vast majority of the cardinals. They've got zero chance", he said firmly. As for senior cleric Turkson, who masters six languages, a favourite of traditionalists, his chances were diminished when  Francis removed him in 2021 from a senior position. 

According to the Reverend Reese, to some conservatives the choice revolves around pulling support from some matters that demote or dismiss traditional practices or doctrine: removing limitations that Francis placed on the Latin Mass; drawing back from matters that establish special policies around blessing LGBTQ+ couples; hands off changing rules and traditions -- and Pope Francis's appointing too many cardinals, overruling church tradition, among them.

"Behind the scenes [the] low-level helpers of the conservatives are busy [promoting the idea around the conclave that Francis's papacy was] a disaster."

"[The point is to] intimidate the reformers. We are in the first stage of the manoeuvres." 

"As we say in Italy, 'It's just tricks for the stupid'."

Marco Politi, longtime Vatican commentator 

Cardinals leave the Vatican after a College of Cardinals' meeting, May 2, 2025 in Rome, Italy.

Antonio Masiello/Getty Images