The Mother of All Betrayal: Cardinals Without Faith
Jaime Gurpegui, writing on InfoVaticana.com (10 March), raises the frightening question of whether the cardinals who will vote in the next conclave are Catholic.
Judging by some of their recent statements, he has his doubts.
The Church is divided between those who see in Francis's pontificate an opportunity to water down the faith and those who insist on the truth of Christ and on juridical rigour, Gurpegui analyses.
If those who elect the next Pope do not believe in the reality of the Church, "what is the point of the whole process?"
Gurpegui therefore urges the cardinals to clarify their beliefs before entering the conclave, for example on the Resurrection of Christ, the Real Presence, the male priesthood, the infallibility of the Church and Catholic [= natural] morality.
He stresses that "the scandal of a corrupt cardinal or one who has led a dissolute life, although painful, is less serious than that of a cardinal who has no faith".
Picture: © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk, CC BY-NC-ND, #…More
Of course, the vast majority of them are non-Catholics. It is extremely strange if non-Catholics materially carry out some elections in the Catholic Church. Can they elect a Catholic? That's ridiculous. It would be ideal if only Catholic cardinals who are willing to sign a commitment to strictly fulfill and adhere to the Oath Against Modernism, Syllabus, etc., were admitted to the conclave. All who are not prepared to make such a commitment must be regarded as non-Catholics who are in no way qualified to elect the Pope. Let the liberals, modernists and supporters of the Second Vatican Council choose their own "Pope" for their religion if they want.