Leo XIV’s Future Cardinals: Soft, Emotional, Less Masculine
He looks to those positions where becoming a Cardinal is almost assured:
- Filippo Iannone – Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops
- Josef Grünwidl – Archbishop of Vienna
- Stanislav Přibyl – Archbishop of Prague
- Ronald A. Hicks – Archbishop of New York
Escrivá wants to glimpse what type of cardinal is beginning to emerge as a reference point of the new pontificate.
He calls Leo XIV’s type of church leader a “post-conflictual clergy” that is media-friendly, focused on dialogue and process, avoiding clear doctrinal confrontation and shifting the Church’s direction without declaring it.
Filippo Iannone (Bishops) has a technocratic profile and is identified with the juridical-canonical apparatus of Rome. He will shape the episcopal body “from above with soft, manageable, and doctrinally porous profiles”.
Josef Grünwidl (Vienna) is the boldest toward the abyss of heterodoxy. He wants female deacons and married priests.
Stanislav Přibyl (Prague) uses language about overcoming polarizations, building bridges, listening, dialoguing, learning from the synodal process.
Ronald Hicks (New York) is closely associated with the anti-Catholic Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, whose auxiliary and vicar general he was before moving to Joliet. He spoke of the “smell of the sheep,” avoiding divisions, walking with the wounded, prioritizing healing and mission-centered governance.
Key phrase: “These profiles convey a weakened priestly masculinity: softer gestures, less paternal authority, a greater inclination toward emotional and relational language, less ascetical density, less gravity and sacrality.”
According to Escrivá these bishops are more dangerous than old progressives who created conflict and resistance because they change the Church quietly.
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