#popes

[victusinveritas]

He's prostrating himself before the Eucharist, in case you're wondering. Or possibly planking.

[deadpresidents]

How a Quiet American Cardinal Became Pope

At a conclave with many new members, a swift, stunning consensus built around an unknown to many outside of the church.

"In the fourth vote, the ballots overwhelmingly shifted" to Cardinal Prevost, Cardinal You of South Korea said.

Cardinal Müller sat behind the American front-runner in the Sistine Chapel and noticed that he seemed calm. Cardinal Tagle, who sat next to Cardinal Prevost, noticed him taking deep breaths as votes amassed in his favor.

"I asked him, 'Do you want a candy?' and he said, 'Yes'," Cardinal Tagle said.

During one of the votes, Cardinal Tobin, as he held his ballot high and put it in the urn, turned and saw Cardinal Prevost, whom he had known for about 30 years.

"I took a look at Bob," Cardinal Tobin said, "and he had his head in his hands."

-- A fascinating inside-the-Sistine-Chapel look at the Conclave that elected Cardinal Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV, via the New York Times.

I love the image of one Cardinal offering candy to another Cardinal who is trying not to hyperventilate because he realizes he's about to be elected Pope.

[mapsontheweb]

Where Popes were born?

[tomorrowusa]

« [I]f Donald Trump and his Catholic convert Veep, JD Vance, are ready to cheer, then they should think again. Cardinal Robert Prevost has chosen the name Leo XIV – and if you’re a papal Leo, you tend to be a reformer at the progressive end of Catholicism. That Prevost has decided to become Leo XIV will make Catholics think immediately of the last Leo – Leo XIII – and his 1891 encyclical or teaching document, Rerum Novarum, which outlined workers’ rights to a fair wage, safe working conditions and the rights of workers to belong to trade unions. If Pope Francis was the People’s Pope, then Leo XIV is all set to be the Workers’ Pope. »

— Catholic journalist Catherine Pepinster writing at The Guardian.

Going back 250 years, of the (now) 18 popes since the start of the American Revolution, the three most what we would now call "progressive" would be...

John XXIII (1958-1963)

Francis (2013-2025)

Leo XIII (1878-1903)

Leo XIII issued an encyclical called Rerum Novarum which in modern terms called for collective bargaining and fair working conditions for workers – with emphasis on the working poor. Though the encyclical also rejected violence and forced confiscation of property as advocated by militant socialists of that era, Rerum Novarum was regarded as radical by powerful conservative elements inside the church hierarchy. So when Leo XIII died, the cardinals elected Pius X who was a blatant reactionary.

So if papal names set the tone for papal reigns, Chicagoan Leo XIV might be seen as pro-labor and against the more rapacious aspects of capitalism. Trump and his broligarch buddies can't be terribly pleased about that. While Leo XIV won't be wildly "woke", he's not the pope that MAGA was hoping for.

[gwydpolls]

Time Travel Question 81: Miscellaneous IV

If you could travel through time, but only to see something for Research or for fun, not to change anything, what would you pick? Yes you can have a Babel Fish to translate, may record discreetly, have walking around money, and are immune to injury and disease.

Survey of the Oregon Trail

San Francisco a week before the Earthquake

The settlement of Hokkaido by the Ainu

Snoop on every papal conclave

The first organism to have sex and the reaction

Ride Nile River ride at the Luxor

Walk through Brigantine Castle

Ride the Chaos ride at the Adventuredome

Ride the Big Bad Wolf at Busch Gardens

Visit Cúil Íorra Peninsula for a month 6000 years ago

Visit  Dún Aonghasa on the Aran Islands 3000 years ago

An Etruscan Funeral at the tombs at Tarquinia.

Voting ended onMay 23, 2025

These Questions are the result of suggestions from the previous iteration.

This category may include suggestions made too late to fall into the correct grouping.

Please add new suggestions below if you have them for future consideration.

[cuties-in-codices]

papal prophecies

illustrations from a manuscript copy of "vaticinia de summis pontificibus" (a series of prophecies related to specific popes), northern italy, c. 1410-15

source: Kremsmünster, Benediktinerstift, CC Cim. 6, fol. 5r, 8r, 13v, 16r

[azspot]

"(Jesus) does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: 'Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood…

Pope Leo XIV