(Photograph copyright by Marilis A. Pineiro. Please credit her for any republication)
Another lightning bolt on the cupola…
At 2:49 am on the morning of Monday, May 5, 2025, I was awakened suddenly from a sound sleep by a huge thunderclap. It seemed that the entire city of Rome must have been shaken.
“What the heck was that?” I thought, wondering whether the enormous sound might have been a bomb exploding.
Then, through my window, I saw a massive lightning bolt light up the sky. It was about 2:50 a.m.
Then quickly followed by a second massive thunderclap, and a second lightning bolt at 2:52, followed by a 3rd thunderclap. (I did not see the first lightning bolt, because I was sleeping, and was only awakened by the thunder that followed that first, unseen bolt.)
Then it began to rain.
At 6 p.m. this afternoon on via delle Fornaci, by chance, in bright sunshine now (because the rain stopped early this morning) a young, smiling woman came up to me and said, “Hi! Do you remember me? I once visited your offices in Front Royal, Virginia!”
“I do remember you!” I said. “But… I forget your name…”
“I am Marilis, Marilis Pineiro,” she said. “Remember? I was the nun who used to work at the Washington nunciature when Archbishop Viganòwas there… you and I met when you visited him… Then I came to visit you…”
“Ah!” I said, “yes… of course…”
I asked Marilis to sit down with me for a moment to have a coffee and talk of old times…
“Did you hear that thunderclap last night?” I asked. “It was so loud! It woke me up from a sound sleep…”
“I did!” she said. “It was a tremendous blow, and woke me too. I went to the balcony of my apartment, just near here (she pointed up) and I could see the dome of St. Peter’s from my balcony. I snapped a picture just as another lightning bolt fell on the cupola…”
“You took a picture of it!?!” I asked, incredulously. “Is it like that picture from the night Pope Benedict resigned in 2013, on February 11, at about 6 p.m.? May I possibly see it?”
“Sure, I have it right here on my cellphone.”
She showed the picture to me.
The lightning bolt came down upon the dome of St. Peter’s, but did not strike it, as in 2013. Rather, it divided into three almost equal parts, a bolt descending, then splitting into two bolts continuing to descend.
“Could you email that photo to me?”
“Sure,” she said. And she did.
“Could I publish it in one of my letters?”
“Yes, sure,” she said.
And then we began to speak about other things, about Archbishop Viganò, and about the late Pope Francis, and about the upcoming Conclave, and about our lives in general…
The photo Marilis took is above…
(Photograph copyright by Marilis A. Pineiro. Please credit her for any republication)
Here is a link showing a video, from RAI, the Italian television network, of the preparation of the Sistine Chapel for voting later this week.
This is an image from an Italian publication showing all of the cardinals — “The Galaxy of the Papabili” (link) — who will be voting in the upcoming conclave, which will begin on Wednesday, May 7, in one day…
An Italian website looks at the rise and fall of the number of interactions on the internet — X, Facebook, and so forth — for each of the leading cardinals. The site concludes: “Cardinal Pietro Parolin is the one who gets the most interactions on X and knocks Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle out of first place — compared to the previous monitoring. Cardinal Matteo Zuppi also made a significant recovery. But watch out for the American cardinal Timothy Dolan, who has both social accounts verified and has been recording an increase in audience in recent days.” (link)
Letter #34, 2025, Monday, May 5: Lightning
There is just one day now — Tuesday — before the beginning of the papal conclave on Wednesday, May 7.
The 9th and last of the “Novemdiales” Masses in prayer and mourning for the death of Pope Francis was celebrated yesterday St. Peter’s Basilica, as I wrote yesterday evening. It was celebrated by French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, 73, a respected Church diplomat who was elevated to the cardinalate by Pope Francis in 2015. He is the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura in the Roman Curia.
Below is a report on what Mamberti said. His words were of deep significance regarding the relationship between St. Peter, the first Pope, who died in Rome in about 64 A.D., which is the reason why St. Peter’s Basilica is here, and why the papacy is here, almost 2,000 years later.
Following that report on Mamberti’s words is an interesting profile of Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, archbishop of Colombo in Sri Lanka, off the southern coast of India, written by the excellent Italian Vaticanist, Franca Giansoldati for the Rome daily Il Messaggero.
That is followed by an interesting report by another excellent Italian Vaticanist who is also an old friend, Andrea Gagliarducci, who wrote many thoughtful reports on the perplexing character of the Vatican trial of Cardinal Angelo Becciu — who voluntarily withdrew from being a voting cardinal during this upcoming Conclave, though he was once the third-ranking man in the Vatican hierarchy. Gagliarducci reports on the divisions between the Italians as the opening of the Conclave looms.
This is followed by a letter from a reader who suggests that Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York would make a “great” Pope.
Then at the end, a report on the Prophecy of St. Malachy. The prophecy suggests that the last Pope is this one who will be elected, and his name will be “Peter the Roman.”
***
Four Peters in the Conclave
No Pope has ever taken the name “Peter the Second” or “Peter II.”
Four possible “Peters” are among the leading candidates to become the next Pope: Parolin, Erdo, Pizzaballa, and Turkson. Here are some brief “thoughts” on these four:
1) Pietro Parolin, 70, of Italy, has been the Vatican Secretary of State for the past 12 years, so, the right-hand man of Pope Francis; over more than 20 years, I have spoken with Parolin at some length on a number of occasions, since the time he was a monsignor; I have found him a calm, consummate diplomat, someone who can negotiate in difficult and tense situations; he was the Vatican’s lead observer at the Vienna nuclear arms limitation talks, so he has studied the question of modern war; in this sense he is a very serious and prepared man; this is the reason many on the “inside” in the Church find him worthy of consideration as the next Pope; the “insiders” know him to be not only experienced and so a guarantee of governing the Church without chaos, but also, invariably courteous, invariably hard-working (he often works until eight of nine in the evening, something I have seen with my own eyes); always thoughtful, always prepared, and, yes, always deeply desirous to bring about what would be good for the Church, and for individual souls; desirous of not splitting the Church, and of not abandoning souls; in our last conversation, during the illness of Pope Francis, but before his death on April 21, when I broached to Parolin the matter of his possible election as the next Pope, he laughed, shook his head, and said his personal desire was actually to return to northern Italy, where he was born and raised, and to help out in his local parish, in his retirement; to me his words seemed a sign of true humility;
2) Peter Erdo, of Hungary, with whom I have written a book, Guarding the Flame, based on many days of taped conversations; Erdo is an absolutely brilliant man, a canon lawyer, a scholar of the entire history of Europe, and of the Church, and of the publishing of books — he knows more about the history of book publishing, which is the history of the spread of knowledge and of literacy, of learning, than any man i have ever met; he has already been a #1 leader of the European bishops (president of the European bishops) for 10 years, bringing together several gatherings of Catholic and Orthodox bishops as a presupposition for eventual deeper understanding and perhaps even formal reunion between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches; he fluent in Russian and in English, and of course Italian, and Latin, and Hungarian; he is someone who lived under Communism and so knows it personally and profoundly (before the Iron Curtain fell, Hungary was part of the Warsaw Pact), and he is a man of absolute personal integrity in so far as managing finances is concerned; he would make an outstanding Pope, working closely with the Italians who understand the mechanisms of the Roman Curia; he had a twin brother, Paul, who died several years ago, so he has known deep personal sorrow; for this reason as well, Hungarian sources say that, if he were chosen, he might choose the name Paul VII.
3) Pietro Pizzaballa, also of Italy but presently of Jerusalem, a Franciscan, and a man of outstanding courage, willing to offer himself in exchange for Israeli hostages taken by Hamas, in order to head off the war in Gaza which has taken more than 50,000 lives; if he is the choice, the Church will have a leader of great moral and spiritual courage; he is just 59, relatively young
4) Peter Turkson, 76, from Ghana in West Africa, a former British colony, is among several African cardinals who would be very good choices to be the successor of Peter because of their deeply Christocentric Christian faith, which has grown up and been preserved in societies that have experienced less of that deracinating modernism which has penetrated and de-Christianized so much of our so-called “First World”; in other words, there is an apostolic purity to the faith of many Africans, Turkson included, a purity which comes from the 18th and 19th and 20th century missionaries, who brought a traditional faith to that continent, and planted it there, while in the western world “modernism” was galloping forward; Turkson’s deep faith springs from these missionaries, and from Africa’s very archaic traditional values, values of families and villages and societies which have, often, been diminished or forgotten in Europe and the West in general. Turkson’s episcopal motto is “Vivere Christus est” (“To live is Christ”). This is a Christocentric faith. As a boy, he was a brilliant student, always at the top of his class. He was the 4th of 10 children. His father worked in a British manganese mine and was a carpenter who could build “almost anything,” Turkson told me. His mother sold vegetables in the village market. So Turkson came from “the people” and he knows the common people, more so than many cardinals; yet he has risen to be the first cardinal from Ghana, and in recent years has been the Chancellor of the Vatican Academy of Sciences. After he decided to enter the seminary, his brilliance was noted, and he was sent to the United States. He came to Albany, New York, and attended St. Anthony-on-Hudson Seminary in Rensselaer, New York, where he graduated with an M.A. in Theology and a Master of Divinity. So he knows America well. I once asked him how his years in Albany were, and he answered, “Cold.” (Of course, the winters there are ferocious, bitterly cold, and he comes from Ghana, not far off the Equator, where it is warm year-round.) His dissertation was never finished because he was named a bishop by John Paul II and flung immediately into the whirl of work of the large Cape Coast diocese in Ghana, where he inspired a flood of new seminarians to enter the priesthood. He motivated young men. He was a father to them. Those were some of the happiest years of his life. His thesis topic was to be on the scriptural passages which speak of all the nations of the world going up to Jerusalem “to worship the King, the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 14:16). Again, this is a Christocentric vision, a vision in which Christ reconciles, not divides. John Paul II created Turkson Cardinal-Priest of San Liborio in his final consistory of 21 October 2003 — 22 years ago. Turkson participated in the papal conclave of 2005 that elected Pope Benedict XVI and the papal conclave of 2013 that elected Pope Francis. He has worked in the Roman Curia since 2009, for 16 years. No African Church leader, arguably, knows the Curia better than he does. And he has experience as a peace-maker in very difficult and tense situations. In the spring of 2011, Pope Benedict XVI sent Cardinal Turkson as a mediator to contribute to a diplomatic, non-military solution to the civil conflict in Ivory Coast, where Laurent Gbagbo had refused, in spite of international condemnation and local protests and resistance, to step aside and hand over power to Alassane Ouattara, the certified winner of the presidential election. Atrocities had been committed by both sides. In 2016, Pope Francis sent Turkson as his special envoy to pursue peace in South Sudan: to urge an end to violence in the country, and to help establish dialogue and trust between the warring parties. Turkson traveled to Juba to support the archbishop and to meet with the country’s leaders. He also carried with him a letter from Francis for President Salva Kiir and one for Vice President Riek Machar who were historic enemies and represented different ethnic groups. I have had a number of conversations with Cardinal Turkson, and one evening, when our conversation continued until late, I told him I had to leave because I was expected to join an evening Rosary group via Zoom to pray the Rosary. “Please stay,” he said. “I will pray with you,” he said. And we prayed the rosary together with the group, from many countries, via Zoom. His daily Rosary, he told me, is for him an important part of his daily spiritual life. This seemed to me a sign of true humility.
So these are the four men named Peter who are entering into the papal Conclave. Will one of them emerge as the next Pope?
—RM
(1) Cardinal Mamberti’s Homily
Cardinal Mamberti: Pope Francis, faithful to his mission with all his strength (link)
On Sunday afternoon, 4 May, the Third Sunday of Easter, Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti presided over the ninth and final Novemdiale Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica in suffrage for Pope Francis, with the participation of the College of Cardinals. He recalled that Peter’s mission is love expressed through service to the Church and all humanity.
By Alessandro Di Bussolo
The mission of Peter and the Apostles, Cardinal Mamberti noted in his homily, “is love itself, which becomes service to the Church and to all humanity.” Pope Francis, “animated by the Lord’s love,” was faithful to his mission “to the point of exhausting all his strength.” This was a primary point of Cardinal Mamberti’s homily, delivered during the final Mass of the Novemdiales (Masses marking the nine days of mourning for a deceased pope), reflecting on the Gospel passage from John read on this Third Sunday of Easter. The reading recounts the encounter of the Risen Jesus with several apostles by the Sea of Tiberias, ending with Jesus entrusting Peter with his mission and the command: “Follow me!”
Proclaiming the joy of the Gospel
Cardinal Mamberti remarked that this Gospel is especially fitting for a Church now praying for a new Successor of Peter as the Conclave begins on 7 May. As well, the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, where Peter and the others declare: “We must obey God rather than men.” The French Cardinal recalled how Pope Francis, using those very words, warned the powerful and proclaimed to all humanity the joy of the Gospel, the Merciful Father, and Christ the Savior.
“He did this through his teachings, his travels, his gestures, and his way of life. He said, “I stood near him on Easter Sunday at the Loggia of the Blessings of this Basilica, a witness to his suffering, but above all to his courage and determination to serve the People of God until the end.”
Peter’s humble love
Cardinal Mamberti recalled words of Pope Benedict XVI, who said, “Simon understands that Jesus is satisfied with his poor love, the only one he is capable of.” It is this divine understanding that gives hope to the disciple who has known the pain of unfaithfulness. From that moment on, Peter follows the Master “with full awareness of his own fragility.” Cardinal Mamberti also recalled Saint John Paul II, who on the 25th anniversary of his pontificate said, “Every day in my heart I relive the same dialogue between Jesus and Peter,” and that he felt Jesus encouraging him to answer, like Peter: “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Then Jesus would entrust him again with his responsibilities.
The essential dimension of adoration
Cardinal Mamberti also recalled the second reading from Revelation with its praise and adoration of God and the Lamb. Pope Francis often emphasized, he said, that “adoration is an essential dimension of the Church’s mission and of the faithful’s lives.” In his homily for Epiphany 2024, the Pope lamented that “we’ve lost the habit of adoring, the ability that adoration gives us. Let’s rediscover the beauty of prayerful adoration. Today, adoration is lacking among us.”
“This ability to adore was clearly present in Pope Francis. His intense pastoral life and countless encounters were always rooted in long periods of prayer shaped by Ignatian discipline. He often reminded the Church that contemplation is “a dynamic of love” that “lifts us to God not to detach us from the world, but to help us dwell in it more deeply.”
In conclusion, Cardinal Mamberti recalled how Pope Francis did everything under the gaze of Mary, Salus Populi Romani, before whom he prayed 126 times at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. “Now that he rests near the beloved icon,” Cardinal Mamberti invited the faithful to entrust him to the intercession of the Mother of the Lord and our Mother.
Prayer for Pope Francis
During the prayers of the faithful, the Church prayed that the Lord welcome Pope Francis into His kingdom, acknowledging his trust in the Church’s prayer, purifying him “of human weakness,” and granting him “the reward promised to faithful servants.”
On Sunday, some Cardinals celebrated Mass in their titular churches across Rome. On Monday, 5 May, the Cardinals will meet for General Congregations in the morning at 9 and again at 5 p.m. For Tuesday, 6 May, only a morning session is planned so far, with a possible afternoon session if needed.
[End, report on Mamberti’s Mass and homily]
***
(2) The Cardinal of Sri Lanka
Here is an interesting article about Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Sri Lanka, an old friend, which appeared today in the Italian press here in Rome:
A Cardinal’s Journey from East to West (link)
Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don, a prominent figure from Sri Lanka, navigates the challenges of secularization and tradition within the Catholic Church.
by Franca Giansoldati, Il Messaggero
Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 00:49 a.m.
He comes from Asia but cares about the future of the West and its Christian roots, considered fundamental for the Church. “Secularization in the West has brought with it a strong division between those who take refuge in mysticism, forgetting life, and those who trivialize the liturgy, depriving it of its function as a mediator towards the afterlife.”
The Asian cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don has a very long and almost unpronounceable name and shows that he has very clear ideas.
Perhaps because he has worked in the Curia for a long time, repeatedly, under John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
Known more simply as Malcolm Ranjith, 77 years old, the metropolitan archbishop of Colombo in Sri Lanka, in some ways combines the characteristics of the three previous popes: he is scrupulous in doctrine, capable of courageous gestures, and is quite open with people.
He comes from a country where Catholics are a small minority, the population is predominantly Buddhist, but this has not prevented him from carrying out a program of deep evangelization alongside various humanitarian projects in many complicated areas of the country.
He has operated in the midst of a frightening economic crisis, the aftermath of the civil war between the government army and the Tamil separatists (1983-2009), and also the consequences of the devastating tsunami that in 2004 caused 30,000 victims, bringing Sri Lanka to the brink of default.
Ranjith’s attention to the social doctrine of the Church is a constant in his pastoral work.
A very clear and transparent path, so much so that in these days his profile has also been examined.
He would certainly be a candidate appreciated by those hoping for the Church’s attention towards Asia, issues related to charity, migration, and the theme of peace.
At the same time, however, Ranjith would offer guarantees to the more conservative fringes as he showed over the years, as a leader of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, a rigorous attention to the liturgy, even towards the Latin Mass.
He was one of the few cardinals to have continued to celebrate in Latin on some occasions despite the ban imposed by Francis with the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, canceling that work of mending with the traditionalist world that had been done by Benedict XVI. A wound still open in the ecclesial fabric.
Ranjith is a veteran. He has already participated in a conclave, that of 2013, and has worked a lot in Rome, even learning to know firsthand the misconduct of some cardinals (which then cost him the transfer to Sri Lanka when he was at Propaganda Fide).
He was ordained a priest by Paul VI in 1975; he welcomed Saint John Paul II on his trip to his country in 1995 and was made a cardinal by Benedict XVI in 2010.
Born in 1947 in Polgahawela, a Sri Lankan city of 200,000 inhabitants, Malcolm Ranjith is the eldest of 14 children. He comes from a rather poor but devout family and is part of that very cohesive Catholic minority in Sri Lanka. For him, it was almost natural as a child to attend the parish, serve as an altar boy during functions.
He continued his studies with the Brothers of Christian Schools (Lasallians). During this period, he matured his religious vocation and chose to become a priest, attending the Oblate missionaries.
At this point, he was sent to the major seminary in Kandy, and later to Rome at the College of Propaganda Fide.
He obtained a license in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, studying under two great biblical scholars, the Jesuits Carlo Maria Martini and Albert Vanhoye, with whom he always remained in contact.
During his training at the Biblical Institute, he also attended courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Ranjith is a polyglot, speaks several languages, easily switching from Tamil to Latin, from French to Italian, which he speaks fluently. [Note: He also speaks fluent English. –RM]
After his studies, he worked in the parish and gained experience in a very poor area of Sri Lanka, on the coast, inhabited by Catholic fishermen.
In 1983 he became national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, a position he held for ten years, even after his episcopal appointment. In 1991 he was elected titular bishop of Cabarsussi and auxiliary of Colombo. In the last period in this office, he coordinated the preparation of Saint John Paul II’s trip to Sri Lanka. It was 1995.
At the end of that year, he was transferred to the new residential See of Ratnapura, located in the interior of the country and mostly populated by tea plantation growers.
In 2001, he was called to Rome to work as an assistant secretary at the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (Propaganda Fide), where he clashed with the corruption that reigned there at the time.
The continuous disagreements with Cardinal Sepe led to his dismissal, so he was sent back to Southeast Asia as apostolic nuncio in Indonesia and East Timor, even though he did not come from the ranks of diplomacy.
Even in that situation, however, he managed to do very well, strong in the fact that he knew many Indonesian bishops personally, and they proved to be valuable in bringing aid to the country through Caritas.
In 2004, he fully experienced the tragedy of the devastating tsunami.
With the election of Joseph Ratzinger, of whom he had always been a friend, in 2005, things changed, and he was called back to Rome as secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship. He held this position until 2009, then returned to his homeland as a cardinal and archbishop of Colombo.
The website collegeofcardinalsreport emphasizes how his line represents the continuity of a missionary Church, committed to defending the faith, promoting human dignity, and social reconciliation. However, he is against women deacons, blessings for gay couples, and generally does not oppose the theme of synodality.
[End, Franca Giansoldati profile of Cardinal Ranjith]
***
(3) After Pope Francis, a Church to be rebuilt? (link)
4 May 2025
The only certainty of the days following Pope Francis’s death, is uncertainty.
With his Church-as-a-field-hospital and his personal–personalist, in the political sense—modus gubernandi, Francis left many things unclear, confused, and subject to discussion. In a word: the “Franciscan” way of doing things created division.
This is the legacy of Pope Francis, which looms over the cardinals about to gather in conclave to elect his successor.
On a practical level—though one with illustrative power and far-reaching implications—the cardinals have already clarified a pair of significant questions regarding the conclave: whether the ceiling of 120 electors was considered repealed, given that there are 133 cardinal electors at the moment; whether the disgraced Cardinal Angelo Becciu could vote.
In the first case, a rescript had been prepared but was never published, which derogated from the rule. On the one hand, the Universi Dominici Gregis, the constitution that regulates the Conclave, establishes the ceiling of 120 electors, but on the other, explains that all cardinals formally created by the Pope have the right to vote in the Conclave. The thing that needed clarification, in other words, was that the law as written provides for as many cardinals as the pope created with the requisites for participation, to be cardinal-electors.
In the case of Cardinal Becciu, the issue is more complex.
Becciu had renounced his cardinal prerogatives and communicated his decision to Pope Francis at the end of a dramatic personal confrontation in which the Pope had told him he no longer had confidence in him. It was September 24, 2020. Becciu had never signed a letter of resignation, but the acceptance of his resignation and renunciation of the “rights and privileges” of cardinalatial rank had come by way of communiqué from the Holy See Press Office that same evening.
Starting in 2022, Becciu had nonetheless been invited by the Pope to participate in consistories and various other public events. He had always done so as a cardinal, sitting with all the insignia of his official dignity. The Pope had told him that he would then sort things out. He did so in two never-published letters, one in 2023 and one in 2025, and in both cases, they were signed with an F at the end of a hospitalization of the Pope. Becciu, however, had never been notified of those documents.
Faced with the Pope’s reassurances and the fact that there were no written provisions about him, Becciu had participated in the first general congregations. The Camerlengo, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, told Becciu the late Pope had desired that he not vote. Becciu said that nothing was written on the issue. At that point—it was the third day of the congregation—Cardinal Parolin made the letters known.
Faced with a provision of the Pope and uncertainty of the subsequent provision, everything is left to the next pontiff to decide. No one could decide on Becciu except the Pope, and the Pope is dead, for now.
So, Becciu found himself increasingly isolated. Several cardinals wanted to quit wasting time on the Becciu question and focus on the papal election. In the end, Becciu decided—for the good of the Church—to sit the whole business out and thus to avoid exacerbating divisions.
The College of Cardinals acknowledged the choice in a communication that carefully avoided expressing an opinion of the matter but nevertheless expressed a desire that “the facts be clarified” regarding the Vatican trial for which the Cardinal was sentenced to 5 years and 6 months of imprisonment.
The reference to the trial is a warning. Formally, the prosecution is not the problem. Becciu could have been found guilty in the third degree, but he would not have lost his right to vote. Why mix the issues of a criminal trial with those concerning the ecclesiastical law governing the conclave?
Why mix canon law and criminal law?
Twelve years of Pope Francis have led to all this. Legal uncertainty creates division. However, the Cardinals’ statement attests how the Cardinals themselves either do not understand the nuances of the issues or are subject to such pressure that they do not pay attention to these details. Actually, these are not mutually exclusive.
Cardinal Parolin, for example, continued to comport himself as though he were still Secretary of State, even though his mandate had ceased with the death of Pope Francis.
When world leaders arrived for the funeral of Pope Francis, Parolin was there to welcome them at the Door of Prayer. Not the vice-dean of the College of Cardinals, as Cardinal Sodano was in 2005. Not even the substitute. Parolin then even had a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky in the Concordat Hall of the Secretariat of State, which he should not use because, precisely, he has fallen from office as Secretary of State.
The situation was later resolved. When Turkish President Erdogan came to the Vatican on April 29, he did not meet Parolin – as was scheduled – but Cardinal Farrell, the Camerlengo.
The role of the Camerlengo, however, should also be redefined. Deprived of the Apostolic Camera, which provided all the office’s legal and administrative support, Farrell now finds himself with a powers that, concentrated as they are, go beyond the mere competencies regarding the temporal goods of the Church. The Camerlengo, in short, has become a sort of dominus in Pope Francis’s reform, while the collegiality that had always characterized the government of the Church in periods of vacancy has been lost.
The handling of the Becciu case is also questionable. In the end, why did Parolin not present the Pope’s letters privately to Becciu in a meeting to be held with the Camerlengo and the Dean of the College of Cardinals to decide what to do? Why was this not done before the General Congregations, thus avoiding lengthy discussions among the cardinals?
At a certain point, everything seems to have been handled rather … lightly. Even the announcement of the Pope’s death was made without the Dean of the College of Cardinals, who is responsible for making the announcement, and, among other things, without anyone wearing at least a fillet.
The maneuvers given the Conclave are also played out in other details. Those who support Parolin note that Parolin suffered the pontificate of Francis more than he desired or supported it, and that the letters on Becciu were kept confidential precisely to protect the disgraced Cardinal, leaving the door to rehabilitation by the Pope cracked open or at least unlocked.
Rehabilitation did not happen.
On the other hand, it is said that Parolin behaved in a non-transparent manner, carried out the Pope’s will in an unsustainable way even after the Pope had died, and took formal liberties that he should not have taken.
It is difficult to understand where the truth lies.
There is an ongoing campaign to undermine Parolin’s candidacy, in any case. The rumor regarding Parolin’s visit to the Gemelli hospital on 30 April over a blood pressure crisis certainly made the rounds, but it was not true.
But everything now can be part of a maneuver, and every rumor must be fully understood and weighed. Parolin enters with a substantial package of votes, but it is not a given that he will become Pope. And then, there are the usual outsiders. The cardinals, meanwhile, express critical opinions on the deceased Pope. One of them reportedly even went so far as to say that synodality is a sort of dictatorship of the people that effectively cuts the council of bishops.
Another, Cardinal Beniamino Stella, criticized Pope Francis’ decision to sever ecclesiastical governing power from sacred orders, tying it all to the person of the Pope.
Finances are also under discussion, but many cardinals are waiting to talk some real talk about faith and how to help the Catholic Church. The field, in short, is wide open. Many names are being discussed: Grech as the standard-bearer of the progressives, Erdo for the conservatives, Pizzaballa and Cristobal Lopez for the centrists, and Arborelius as the surprise second choice of the conservatives.
But who will have the strength to enter the Curia and dismantle the field hospital so something permanent can be erected in its place? Who will have the gumption to cut the dead branches of power perpetuating themselves under the pontificate?
This Conclave seems to be a conclave of mediation rather than prophecy, but it ought to be a conclave of courage.
***
(4) The American cardinal everyone loves…
I received this letter by email this evening. It is about Cardinal Dolan. I share it because it is not unreasonable:
Robert,
Greetings. Have been praying for months for the next Pope. I’m surprised how nobody is talking about Cardinal Timothy Dolan as a possible Pope. I can list a few reasons:
- He worked in Rome as Rector at the Pontifical North American College for 7 years, while teaching at the Angelicum & Pontifical Gregorian University. He knows Italian and lived there.
- He has a strong personal rapport with Donald Trump. I think Europeans are shook up about Trump backing off defending Western Europe from Russia. An American Pope Dolan would certainly hold the man’s attention, similar to how Queen Elizabeth and now King Charles do in the UK. Trump loves the pomp of European monarchy.
- Related to Trump, I think of centuries past when there was a Holy Roman Emperor and a Pope who saved Christendom from Muslim invaders. Jan II Sobieski and the Battle of Vienna come to mind. If there is anyone in the West right now who could be the equivalent of a Holy Roman Emperor, it’s Trump. The VP is Catholic, Trump’s wife is Catholic… Rubio is Catholic… we are on the brink of global war. I think a Pope Dolan could definitely influence Trump in a positive way. John Paul II influenced Ronald Reagan, right? Bloodless revolution ensued.
- From what I have read, nobody dislikes Dolan. He gets along with nearly everyone. Many cardinals begin conversations with light-hearted anecdotes about Dolan.
- It was Dolan who broke the McCarrick story. If anyone would really deeply deal with the crisis of priestly abuse once and for all, it’s Dolan. He was a seminary rector and thus deeply involved in priestly formation. Big-time house cleaning is in order.
- He is a happy warrior, jovial, and media-savvy. We need an optimist in the chair of Peter.
- He is a very good communicator with the personality to be a dynamic global evangelist. Whoever is the next Pope needs to evangelize Europe and stop the German cancer from metastasizing. Dolan has the stones to do it.
- He has proven to be an effective administrator, both in his role as bishop and in his other roles, like evaluating Irish seminaries, where the results led to cleaning house over there. The Curia needs to clean house and right-size. No more stealing Peter’s Pence to make budget. Need someone decisive and capable to do that.
I admit it would be an unexpected choice.
I just think he would be very effective at this particular time in Church history, given the geopolitical situation. We are far closer to nuclear war than most even want to contemplate. If an American can help, why not?
Popes are usually elected as reactions to the last Pope. In my mind the same problems that were in place in 2013 — lingering credibility issues due to abuse, lack of standing in world affairs, financial troubles at the Vatican — are still very much in place.
You need someone to scrub clean the Vatican City of all influences that do not belong there, and open wide the doors to Christ!
Kind regards,
Tom Esposito
Newark, Delaware, USA
[End, letter on Cardinal Dolan as the next Pope]
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***
And now, one more time, a piece about the prophecies of the Irish monk, St. Malachy, written in the 1100s, published for the first time in the 1590s, and seemingly appropriate for our own time, the time of the final Pope, whose name will be “Peter the Roman“… This piece was published today by my old acquaintance, Michael Brown, on his very interesting Spirit Daily website at this link.
(5) Who Might Be “Peter The Roman”?
May 5, 2025 by sd
Okay: did that long-ago saint named Malachy really predict future Popes—including the one who would be last?
And in accordance with that supposed prophecy, is the last one now gone, or upon us?
If that seems confused, it’s because it is, which is not always the best indicator in discernment.
The “Prophecy of the Popes” is a list, as many know, of 112 short Latin depictions or “mottoes,” supposedly predicting every Pope from Celestine II (1143) to the end of time. A few examples: As Catholic Answers points out, the description of the future John XXII (1316-1334) was supposedly “de sutore osseo”—from the bony shoemaker.” This Pontiff was the son of a shoemaker and his family name was “Ossa,” which means bone.
In another example, “lilium et rosa” was the phrase used to describe the Pope who would be Urban VIII (1623-1644), whose family coat-of-arms was covered with “lilies and roses.”
There are other examples, as you will see. At any rate, the list was first published in 1595 by Benedictine monk Arnold Wion, who attributed it to the 12th-century Irish archbishop, Saint Malachy, who hailed from Armagh.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a contemporary biographer of Malachy who recorded the saint’s alleged miracles, made no mention of the prophecy.
Is it just a forgery composed around 1590 and meant to influence a specific papal conclave back then?
Again, Malachy lived in the 1100s. His prediction didn’t come to light for four centuries.
More suspiciously, the prophecy seems strikingly accurate for Popes up to its publication (again, in 1590)—but vague and inconsistent, if not plainly inaccurate, thereafter.
But there have been a few good matches in modern times, since 1590.
The phrase “pastor et nauta,” meaning “shepherd and sailor,” was attributed to John XXIII. This Pope hailed from Venice, historically a city of sailors, and on the day he took office he indicated the goal of his pontificate was to be “a good shepherd.”
Describing the Popes to follow John XXIII are the phrases “flower of flowers” (Paul VI, who had a fleur-de-lys in his coat of arms), “from the labor of the sun” (for John Paul II, with significance attached in the occurrence of solar eclipses elsewhere in the world on the date of his birth (18 May 1920) and funeral (8 April 2005) and whose mother reported a miracle of the sun around the time of his birth.
After John Paul II were only two left in Malachy’s prophecy (if you don’t count John Paul I): “the glory of the olive” and “Peter the Roman.”
The latter would supposedly lead the Church through many tribulations, concluding with the last judgment.
Was Benedict XVI (“glory of the olive”) represented as such because of his choice of papal name was after Saint Benedict of Nursia, founder of the Benedictine Order, of which the Olivetans (“Olivetan” comes from Monte Oliveto, or the Mount of Olives) are one branch?
The final purported motto from Saint Malachy—the final Pope—describes “Peter the Roman,” who would lead the Church through great tribulations before the destruction of Rome and the Last Judgment. However, the line preceding it — “In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will sit…” — is treated by some as a separate sentence, leaving open the possibility of unnamed popes between “Gloria olivae” (the 111th motto, often linked to Benedict XVI) and Peter the Roman.
Pope Francis, Benedict XVI’s successor, is not directly named in the prophecy. Some have tried to associate him with Peter the Roman due to symbolic links (e.g., Francis of Assisi’s father was named Pietro, and Francis is of Italian descent).
That seems a bit strained.
The prophecy does not clearly specify if he is the final Pope or if more will come. It basically just says the last will be a “Peter.”
Some interpretations leave room for one or more popes between Benedict XVI and Peter the Roman. Thus, under this widely held reading, Pope Francis is not Peter the Roman, and the final prophesied Pope is still to come.
In the imminent conclave are “frontrunners” such as Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Cardinal Peter Erdo, Cardinal Peter Turkson, and Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa. (“Pier” is a form of “Peter”; his first name means “Peter the Baptist”).
But, again, this is only if Pope Francis — who was Pontiff for twelve years — is left out. Some lists also leave John Paul I out.
“Peter the Roman” will “nourish the sheep in many tribulations,” says the prophecy; afterward, “the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge will judge his people. Finis [“The end”].”
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[Footnote: Says a more recent alleged “prophet,” Manuela Strack of Sievernich, Germany (quoting Saint Michael), “Pray! Darkness oppresses the Church!” (He requests a continuous recitation of the Rosary on May 7 and May 8, asserts the seer.”)]
[End, Spirit Daily article on the prophecy of “Peter the Roman”]
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