Pope Francis Is NOT Joking When He Talks About ‘Pope John XXIV’ — He Is Sending A Coded, But Clear Message.

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by Anura Guruge
on September 6, 2022

Click image to access the ‘CNA’ article.

Pope’s are NOT allowed to — though obviously they are a law onto themselves (not answerable to any earthly authority) — signify their preference as to who they would like to see as their successor. And to be fair, Francis is NOT doing that. He is not signaling WHO he would like to see elected as the Next Pope.

What he is however doing, cutely & cleverly is BLATANTLY advocating what type of successor he is rooting for — i.e., a pope that will carry on his recent zeal for doubling down on most of the ‘Vatican II‘ reforms (e.g., curtailing the ‘old’ Latin Mass‘).

‘John XXIII‘, the Good Pope, is, of course, best known for convoking & opening Vatican II.

So, anyone who takes the name ‘John’ would, one has to assume, be a fan of John XXIII & thus also his greatest achievement, Vatican II.

You can’t blame Francis. It is reasonable for a pope to wish that his successor will continue his work & Francis of late has been obsessed by Vatican II.

John XXIII, of course (as it should have been), lucked out. His successor, Paul VI, was as committed to Vatican II as he had been, if not more so. Paul VI was elected, by a conclave that was very partial to the deceased pope, because of his commitment to Vatican II.

So now with his John XXIV ‘jokes’ this is the message that Francis is sending: ‘I want the next pope to be one who, like me, is a true devotee of the Vatican II reforms’.

2 thoughts on “Pope Francis Is NOT Joking When He Talks About ‘Pope John XXIV’ — He Is Sending A Coded, But Clear Message.”

  1. mark61t

    Well, joking or not, he’s not exactly likely to say “either me or Pius XIII” or “either me or Clement XV” (it would be hysterical if he DID say this, given that the previous Clement had disbanded the Jesuits due to pressure from Catholic monarchs in 1773!) 😀
    but you can bet that if one of his devoted flunkies–say Roche for example–is elected, might well opt for John, now.
    But me, I’m still thinking that the next cardinal–if it’s one of Francis’ inner circle or at least “close to his reforms”–will chose another hitherto-unused name. Say, Michael or Matthew or….

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