The Dictator Pope - by Marcantonio Colonna. Politics & Social Sciences Kindle eBooks

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The Holy Spirit respects the freewill of the Cardinals. It is not Catholic doctrine that He “chooses” the Pope. The Cardinals do, however, ask for the Pope’s guidance.
 
twf said:
The Holy Spirit respects the freewill of the Cardinals. It is not Catholic doctrine that He “chooses” the Pope. The Cardinals do, however, ask for the Pope’s guidance.
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JimG said:
The Cardinals in the conclave pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance, but it is the Cardinals, not the Holy Spirit, who choose and who vote.
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Good point, that’s closer to what I meant. I, like the Pope could always do well to be clearer when we speak. 🙂
 
twf said:
The Holy Spirit respects the freewill of the Cardinals. It is not Catholic doctrine that He “chooses” the Pope. The Cardinals do, however, ask for the Pope’s guidance.
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While this is true, I think it much more of a historical issue back when these positions were bartered and came with secular power. The idea that more than an isolated few, much less the majority, could somehow form a mafia-style conspiracy to take over the Church today, with the closed conclave, media coverage, the information of the internet, and most importantly, the quality of the bishops we have, seems something one is more likely to read in a Chick novel, right down to the mysterious anonymous source who know one knows. I do not know of any Cardinals like this, though I only know a couple, and know of others. I sure would not want to call in their holiness. If the claim was they goofed, that would have some credibility, though why God would deny them guidance is beyond me, especially on such a grave matter. But then I am not God. The idea of collusion is not something we should even consider without hard evidence from known sources. It seems like an “O ye of little faith” moment.

While it is true that it is not Catholic doctrine that the Holy Spirit directly chooses the next pope, it is Catholic doctrine that the Holy Spirit will guide us in all truth. Do we no also believe God answers prayer, or why do we bother praying? If we discount the work of the Holy Spirit we might as well discount the work of Jesus, who he is one with. So to lack any faith in the answered prayer of these men in conclave, it would seem you would either have to discount the genuine Christianity of the majority of the Cardinals, view the majority of them as wolves in sheep’s clothing (as might have been the case in the past), discount the omnipotence of God, or simply disbelieve in prayer. I would really hope the latter were not true. What a terrible state it would be to think that God never lead your life in any way and in any thing.

Interesting point, Karl Keating once met, accidentally, Jack Chick, though it is hard to know for sure, as he protected his anonymity for the sake of making wild claims without being called on it.
 
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I meant the Cardinals ask the Holy Spirit for guidance…not the Pope…who at this point is typically dead.
Though…I’m sure some prayed to St. John Paul II for guidance when they elected Benedict!
 
The “mafia” reference doesn’t refer to anything resembling a real mafia. I have not read the book and don’t intend to, but this is not a new claim…I’ve seen it elsewhere on sites such as Fr Z’s blog. It refers to a small group of “progressive” cardinals who joined forces to influence the election towards the “progressive” end of the spectrum. Not a literal mafia. From what I remember, a key member was supposed to be Cardinal Danneels…who I don’t think anyone could deny is progressive with a capital P (not attacking His Eminence… just an observation… he’s pretty “left leaning” as far as Catholic prelates go).
I’m not commenting on it one way or another - just repeating what I’ve seen “reported”.
 
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Wasn’t he the one who said he wanted people to voice their concerns?

Maybe it’s true that this Pope is more dictatorial than others have been. That, by itself, is not a bad thing. The Pope, like it or not, was given great authority and how he chooses to exercise that authority is largely up to him.
 
According to Fr Z’s blog, the Vatican is desperately trying to track down the author and has presented the Pope with a shortlist of potential candidates. If true, why? Every Pope will have critics…
 
Yikes!

Honestly, I wish Pope Francis (may God eternally bless his soul) would just come out and say:

Yes, sometimes I will be a dictator. Sometimes I will be a democrat. It is my right and duty to determine when it is time to ask for consent and when it is time to demand consent.
 
twf said:
According to Fr Z’s blog, the Vatican is desperately trying to track down the author and has presented the Pope with a shortlist of potential candidates. If true, why? Every Pope will have critics…
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IF true. And even if it is, knowing Pope Francis, maybe he wants to meet the guy and talk to him, find out why he thinks this way.
 
Or there is some betrayal of trust, violation of canon law, problem of charity, or any of a number of legitimate reasons. The idea that this indicates “something to hide” is exactly the type of wrong thinking and sloppy logic that leads to conspiracy theories abounding.
 
As much as I am not going to give this author my $9.95, I will cop to being interested to find out who the author finally is.
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Philip Lawler’s review at Catholic World Report.

www.catholicworldreport.com

“The Dictator Pope” is sometimes frustrating, but filled with valuable insights and information

The most valuable service provided by the author of The Dictator Pope is the psychological portrait of Pope Francis: manipulative, hypersensitive, and often downright vindictive—certainly
www.catholicworldreport.com www.catholicworldreport.com
Whenever the author wrote about events with which I was personally familiar, I found his treatment accurate. … However, when the book told stories that were new to me, I found the evidence thin. Too often the author relies on hearsay evidence, and when he cites other reporters, too often their work is based on hearsay as well. Worse, when he makes his most startling claims, “Colonna” offers no evidence at all.
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And for an idea of where Lawler is coming from…
Manipulative, hypersensitive, and often downright vindictive, Pope Francis is certainly not the cheerful populist that his supporters make him out to be. For all the talk about a “reformer pope,” the rhetoric about decentralization, and the promises of reform, the net results of this pontificate to date have been a climate of fear within the Vatican, a tightening of control, and a resurgence of the “old guard” in Rome.
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I looked him up and he seems like a great candidate for the papcy. Is there a shortlist of papable cardinals?
 
Sarah’s name is the only one. have heard repeatedly… with his African roots, considering the Africn church has been experiencing he expansion it has been, and his orthodoxy and love of traditional liturgy, I would love to see him fill the seat of Peter…
 
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