I Don't Have Any Idea

 who will be elected to replace Good Pope Francis but I doubt it will be the candidate I'm seeing pushed all over the trad-cath web,  Robert Sarah, who has been rumored to aspire to be Pope Pius XIII.  For one thing he's almost eighty, for another he was clearly an enemy of Francis and, indeed, of the entire last sixty years of modern Catholicism.   I can't think of anything the Cardinal Electors could do that would more damage not only what Francis has accomplished but, in fact, every Pope since Pius XII.   As I mentioned here the other day the real hard-core trad-caths think Pius' changes such as having the Epistle and Gospel read in a language the congregation could understand,  who knows if someone as wacky as Sarah would try to go back even farther than that.  

As I said the largely multi-millionaire-billionaire financed "trad-catholic" LARPing cult* will almost certainly either mount or force a schism between those who believe the Catholic Church is a Christian Church and those who don't have much need for Jesus other than the name and title and holy pictures and statues.   If someone like Sarah became Pope those who take Jesus seriously would have no home in the Church.

I've read that the millionaire-billionaires have had hired hacks digging up dirt and rumors on alternative candidates and there are at least several of those who will be in the Conclave who would carry that into the meetings.  They dug it up on Francis even as he was Pope, even some of those who he either appointed or kept in offices,  Sarah's infamous book which he lied about Benedict XVI co-authoring was part of that kind of stuff.  The late and scandal tainted George Pell anonymously during his life and explicitly after his death was another such prominent vilifier of Francis.  He was often named as an alternative to Sarah in the dreams of the trad-caths,  he definitely wanted to turn back to some of the worst of the pre-Vatican II church.

I would guess that by this time next week we will know who they've given us and within six months we'll have a pretty good idea of what they've given us.  Till then, it's going to be a bumpy ride no matter who comes out a Pope and not a Cardinal. 

* Every time I see a young Woman or Girl wearing a mantilla at mass (a good sign of someone trad-cath LARPing) I remember when, before they relaxed the rule about Women having their head covered in the 1960s the ones who wore the longest mantillas often had the shortest mini-skirts on.   I'd forgotten that but it must have made an impression on me at the time.  I should talk to some of them because I'd really like to know what they imagine they're getting out of it.  Especially those whose families aren't affluent,  I know what the affluent hope to get out of it.  

Update:  I forgot, they changed the rules so it will be a couple of weeks before we have a new Pope.   The Conclave won't even have begun by a week from now, at least I think that's true.