The pope has died

Popes being accused of being 'too woke' started with Peter and Paul having a showdown over admitting gentiles and dropping Jewish food laws and has continued ever since whenever any Pope tried a reform. When Callixtus (218-222) introduced equal marriage (between slaves and free Christians) there was OUTRAGE in some quarters, Because we are all human.

The weight of Christianity these days isn't really in Europe, so I think sometimes we tend to have an unbalanced view. Many of the places with the most practicing Catholics are much more conservative.

Theology is important as well. Some of the divisive problems Francis had within the Catholic Church were due to the fact that often his statements seemed very muddy and contradictory, which won't in the end allow whatever he hoped to achieve with them to be regularized. He also walked back some reforms that Benedict had started, for example around the use of the traditional mass.
Benedict was considered to be a really phenomenal and precise theologian who could cut through difficult problems with a lot of insight. Why people see that as negative I am not sure.

He served his people to the end. Greeting them, blessing little babies. It's a beautiful way to go.

However I think for the next few days speculation is premature and it should be a time of reflection on his life and death.

@Smallsalt
I think change is due, but I'm not sure it will necessarily lead to larger congregations .It hasn't worked in or for the Church of England.

In some ways a return to a more spiritual and mystic form of Catholicism might draw more people in/back to the Church.

If the church doesn't "woke up" there will be no church.
It already has barely any priests.
Francis knew that.

By all means cling to your exclusive conservatism unloving , but the church will be gone. No clergy and no congregations

I think he was an excellent choice for pope and did a good job, stood up for the downtrodden and seemed like a really humane , sincere, kind person. I hope they get another like him.

I’ve never heard that prayer before but I must say it’s beautiful. I just looked it up and I think it’s Church of England. Thank you for sharing it.

It’s a sad day for catholics. May he rest in peace. I dropped into my local chapel tonight to say a prayer for the repose of his soul. There was a quiet peacefulness and a few people deep in prayer at the shrine that had been set up for him.

I’m with you of all of that @Toddlerteaplease

Tagle seems like a good successor to Pope Francis. Really hoping they don’t go for Erdo.

I’m just relieved that Cardinals Burke and Sarah are too old to be considered. I’m hoping for Tagle as I heard him speak once and he was excellent. I know nothing else about him though.

He is part of a party that dislikes people of colour and treats anything associated with non-white people as suspicious. I think its fairly obvious why a republican married to an Asian woman who is also a Hindu picked catholicism.

Popes are like Star Trek movies, you get a good pope then a bad pope. We're due a bad pope now, get ready to bash the homosexuals again!

I'm only half joking, and since the rest of the world seems to have lost it's mind, I really wouldn't be surprised if we got a bonkers hard-line traditionalist again and the embezzlers move back into the Vatican bank.

I think we are pretty good at cognitive dissonance on that. And just hoping the Church will catch up eventually.

Oh that’s interesting! Also reassuring. I saw a list reported of the hottest contenders and there were a couple of traditionalists in there, but they are in their 70s, so you would hope they would choose a little younger than that.

I’m also extremely worried about this.

While Pope Francis tried to promote the role of women in the church in a very limited way and faced lots of opposition in the Vatican, he was more successful in relation to his work on poverty, the homeless, the dispossessed and the environment.

I’m terrified that a more conservative successor will be chosen and any progress made will be lost.

The Catholic church desperately needs change. The chasm between what the average Joe at Sunday Mass believes and practices, and what the hierarchy decrees, is vast. And that cannot be sustainable for much longer?

Spurred me on to watch Conclave this afternoon - what an excellent film.

Usha Vance is a practicing Hindu.

Just got home to this news. Shocked - I thought he was recovering from his illness. It was brave of him to make his Easter speech when clearly he was failing - I am reminded of Queen Elizabeth II appointing the new Prime Minister just before her death. Whatever your religion or political viewpoint, it can't be denied that some public figures have an exceptionally strong sense of duty, and clearly Pope Francis was one of them.

He was the spitting image of my very, very much loved and missed grandfather, especially a few years ago when he was well. I got quite a start the first time I saw him.

He was never going to please everyone, no Pope is ever going to do that (St Peter would really struggle!) but I think his actions were those of a person who actually cared about not just his flock but humanity. Perhaps that is as much as we can hope for from any religious leader.

As I said before, take your own advice. Leave me alone!

I believe Francis appointed the vast majority of the current cardinals ( I saw an estimate of 80% which seems high?) so hopefully they will follow his lead. It would be awful for the Church to go backwards.

Does anyone else think that Pope Francis had a lovely face. Kind eyes and a great smile. There was something about his features that always made me think he was full of goodness.

Not like some of his stern faced predecessors!

I didn’t have your post deleted, you’re not that important.
Interesting that you just won’t go away, though.
Have some respect for the other posters and stop it.