He was the great disruptor to some and the radical modernizer the Roman Catholic Church desperately needed to others.
The remarkable — and at times turbulent — 12-year papacy of Pope Francis, who died Monday, was marked by ambitious reforms, internal division and global controversy. In the coming days, cardinals from every corner of the Catholic world will begin the process of electing a successor.
In the Sistine Chapel, under the magnificent Last Judgment painted by Michelangelo half a millennia ago, 137 cardinal electors will convene and begin casting their secret, successive rounds of voting for the next leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics.
Most of the members of the male-only College of Cardinals — around 80 per cent — were appointed by Pope Francis, significantly reshaping its composition by making it more international and reducing its traditional European dominance.
Renowned Vatican analyst Marco Politi says that due to this shift, many cardinals are unknown to one another, a factor that could complicate consensus-building efforts. And while almost three-quarters of voting cardinals (under the age of 80) are Francis's appointees, history proves that's no guarantee they'll elect a successor in his image.
"When a pope dies or resigns, the cardinals are like children when the father is away — everyone suddenly feels free," Politi told CBC.
A dearth of strong front-runners makes the outcome of the upcoming conclave even harder to gauge. American cardinals are deeply divided along theological lines, while historically influential conservatives lack serious challengers. The church is growing in Asia and Africa, but those areas have produced few top candidates.
Yet, in this climate of global instability — with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and the upheaval of the U.S. presidency of Donald Trump — most ...
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