@LiveJohn What is "irrelevant" is the continual spouting of unfounded conspiracy theories that question the legitimacy of Pope Francis' election. Particularly when there is absolutely NO empirical evidence whatsoever to the contrary. There is not a single Cardinal-Elector who was present at the last Papal Conclave that has come forth publicly and openly with provable allegations that could in any way provide the foundation of a serious challenge to what transpired, namely the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Supreme Pontiff. Not even those Cardinals who have publicly questioned or opposed many of his acts as Pope, such as Burke, Müller, Sarah, Brandmüller, Iñiguez or even the late Cardinals Pell, Caffarra and Meisner, have presented any doubts as to his legitimacy, nor offered any substantiating accounts of their own Conclave experiences or their personal observations of any sort of nefarious shenanigans that would call Francis' legitimate election into question. They ALL, without a single exception, submitted (and continue to submit) willingly to Francis as the Holy Father, and have all proclaimed him unhesitatingly as the Successor of Saint Peter and Vicar of Christ on Earth...every single one of them - as did the Pope Emeritus himself.
And these are faithful and trustworthy men renowned for their piety, honesty and integrity, stalwart Princes of the Church, holy Priests whose lives have long been spent in service to the Church and in the defense of the Faith. I trust them, along with other devoted Shepherds such as Bishops Strickland and Schneider, both of whom (their fervent and brave opposition to his grave errors and his destructive, deceptive acts notwithstanding) without reservation respectfully, reverently and unquestionably submit to Francis as the legitimately and duly elected Pope, and they encourage and admonish all others of the Faithful to do the same. I do not believe for one second that these holy Priests, dedicated Servants of the Lord, who have already suffered much, would at the peril of their own immortal soul blatantly LIE and declare before the whole Church and the entire world that Francis is the Pope if they were not concretely certain that it was so. They would not willingly MISLEAD the over 1 billion souls of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church in submitting to a false shepherd, binding the Faithful to the obedience of a ravening wolf parading deceptively and diabolically around the globe as Peter and ruling illegitimately from the Petrine Throne in the Apostolic See. These men would not do that.
Thus, until we hear otherwise, and are the recipients of provable evidence from first-hand, trustworthy sources, who have been canonically endowed with the competent juridical authority to make such a determination, that Pope Francis was NOT, in fact, legitimately elected (which, of course, would mean that his entire Pontificate is a sham, a farce, a pretense that must be immediately invalidated and voided and all of his acts abrogated and he himself proclaimed Anathema), we must accept that we cannot look to this particular issue as a viable solution - or even as a pathway towards a solution - for the catastrophic crisis that, like a death-bringing whirlwind, assaults and rages against the Church today. That way lies madness.