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One commentator on America - The Jesuit Review recalled while waiting for the election of the new pope (after Francis’ passing) that the election of Francis was also a referendum on his religious life. In his twenties he was considering leaving the church but Francis gave him hope in the institution. This 2025 papal election, he said, can be a similar experience for many.
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- For me, the person of the pope is certainly a big factor in how engaged I am with the Catholic Church. 6b-my-interest-in-pope-francis-got-me-interested-in-his-succession-too
- In Pope Leo XIV, cardinals elected someone who can continue the work Francis started, but be a more centrist figure, a stabilizing influence.
- The Benedict-Francis succession line, a leftist, reformer pope following a conservative pope was a dividing time in the Catholic Church
- I am a left-leaning, progressive, liberal person, so I welcomed the work of Francis, and personally hoped for another left-leaning reformer. But is understand the need of stepping towards the center, and I am glad we didn’t sit back onto the rollercoaster with a conservative pope.
- During the papacy of Francis, I had several conversations with conservative, orthodox-leaning persons who felt more distance from the Catholic Church because of where Francis was taking the Church. So it’s not just a liberal cherry-picker’s thinking. :)
- We all feel like we are standing with two feet in the world, and any of us can feel (conservative or liberal) that a church, an organization, a family, a country is taken closer or further to us. And so where we were standing with two feet in earlier, we are now one foot in, one foot out, or reverse.
- Stick figure arguments can also take me one step further and leave me with a bad taste. Like the one saying “the Bible is true because it says so about itself”.