Some really bad possible candidates for next pope, a rogues gallery. Gives you idea of what traditionalists reject in case you're interested and/or didn't know . . .

The Who's Who of Bad Options in the Conclave

by Serre Verweij May 1, 2025

De Kesel [Archbishop Jozef] from Belgium is noteworthy for two reasons. First of all, he was a protégé of Sankt Gallen cardinal Godfried Danneels, notorious for trying to silence and even victim-blaming a boy molested by one of his fellow bishops. [Right off, the main convicting fact of life without a wife as we Jesuits or some of us were wont to joke.]

De Kesel followed Danneels’ example in dealing ineffectively with child sexual abuse. Secondly, he supported a controversial document of the Belgium bishops, in late 2022, allowing for liturgical blessing of gay couples, in defiance of the Vatican. (Ah. The straw that broke many a camel’s back. Brother holpen by a brother, doncha know?)

Beyond this he’s a typical radical progressive, supporting married priests and female ordination and communion for any divorced remarried person who says their conscience supports it. [Standard for the breed.]

Hollerich [Jean-Claude S.J.] a Jesuit [uh-oh] from Luxembourg, impresses as one of the most radical cardinals in the world. He seems to be very concerned with politics, but [of] little faith in the Catholic faith. He has called for married priests, suggested that the ordination of women as priests is possible, and outright said the Church’s condemnation of homosexual acts is false (only to backtrack later).

He also suggested Cardinal [Rainer Maria] Woelki in Germany ought to resign, in spite of the fact that he has been one of the most pro-active German prelates in fighting abuse and was falsely accused by progressive media. Hollerich argued he should do this [resign], simply because of public opinion, even though the accusations weren’t fair. Meanwhile, Hollerich has been rather friendly with Cardinal Marx [see below], who actually did mishandle abuse accusations.

The weaponization of the abuse crisis and placing popular opinion above actual help (or harm) for victims seems rather worrying. [Yes]

Mario Grech from Malta, secretary general of the Synod on Synodality, requires no further introduction. [?] His own clergy has accused him of being a bully, he got involved in the financial care-home scandal [?cannot find him named as implicated in this but do find a politician with same last name — ??], allied himself with Hollerich and the German bishops and has called for a diverse ‘rainbow church’.

Reinhard Marx, from Germany, has become . . . infamous at this point. Once Pope Benedict had made him a cardinal, he started to promote modernist standpoints, arguing for communion for the divorced remarried and even intercommunion with Protestants (who deny the Catholic doctrine on the Eucharist).

He had a leading role in the attempts by German bishops to instrumentalize abuse cover-ups by previous liberal bishops to push for more liberal reform.

The irony of this was recently exposed, when it turned out that the liberal Protestant church in Germany had an even worse abuse problem , with research suggesting that more progressive changes would not resolve the issues; and with it being revealed that Marx had himself badly mishandled abuse. Marx even offered to resign over it, but Francis predictably turned this down.

Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, OP, is easily in the top 10, if not top 5, most ‘radical liberal’ cardinals group. He has become rather notorious for describing homosexual acts between men, as to be likened with Christ’s self-gift [!!] in the Eucharist. These blasphemous statements were quietly removed from his English Wikipedia article, shortly before he was given an important role in the Synod on Synodality, and then made cardinal. Meanwhile he has tried to backtrack and deny he held those views, but he still pushes married priests and [in 2005] pushed homosexual priests too, saying they had a ‘calling’.

Cardinal Robert McElroy comes across as the most radical cardinal from the USA and is known as a protégé of the disgraced abuser McCarrick. While he denies having known about, and failed to act on, the accusations against his close ally, he managed to mishandle abuse cases as bishop himself, even though he was appointed after the American bishops had already adopted far stricter norms.

He also implemented both Amoris Laetitia and Traditionis Custodes in radical ways, allowing the divorced remarried to receive communion (even taking the position they often have no blame for their choices), while banning Tridentine masses. His diocese of San Diego even spoke of ‘LGBT families’, a term contrary to the definition of the family provided in the catechism. He has also called for all Catholics to be able to receive communion, even when they’re openly living in mortal sin, and for ordained female deacons.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin is another progressive American who’s been linked to McCarrick and is presented as an ally of McElroy and Cupich. He has also pushed for ‘inclusion’ of LGBT people, in a similar way blurred Catholic doctrine and supported James Martin.

What stands out about him is that he posted a strange message with erotic overtones a few years ago, but then quickly deleted it. It was claimed that this wasn’t a message to a lover, but to his sister, and that he had trouble using technology. The reader can read it and judge for him/herself if this is a normal message for an elderly men to post online ‘for his sister’.

!!!!!!!!

That’s all for now . . .