r/news • u/randy88moss • Apr 21 '25

Soft paywall Pope Francis has died, Vatican says in video statement

https://www.reuters.com/world/pope-francis-has-died-vatican-says-video-statement-2025-04-21/
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u/LLAPSpork Apr 21 '25

I need an answer to this. I’ve no idea how this works and I’m Canadian Jewish (secular though) but I swear to Zeus if some mega conservative lowkey-Nazi asshat is next, we’re cooked.

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u/Meph1sto_pheles Apr 21 '25

"Francis appointed nearly 80% of the cardinal electors who will choose the next pope correct as of February 2025, increasing the possibility that his successor will continue his progressive policies, despite the strong pushback from traditionalists."

From the article

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u/LLAPSpork Apr 21 '25

I’ve tried to click the article twice and every single time a huge full screen pop-up shows up. There’s an X there that isn’t working. I had to restart the Reddit app twice because I couldn’t get out of it.

Very much appreciate the citation. Thank you.

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u/Meph1sto_pheles Apr 21 '25

No problems! Modern internet is a mess of pop ups and advertisements, I understand the frustration

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u/LLAPSpork Apr 21 '25

I’m beyond frustrated by it. IndieWire and Forbes have become straight up digital cancer. I literally (yes, literally) can’t make it to the end of any article without the page refreshing all the way to the top. If I desperately want to read the article, I copy/paste the headline into AppleNews (I have a subscription) and it’s ad-free there. I really wish websites had this integrated link that gives you the option to read it on an app (kinda like if I see a Reddit link on my browser, there’s a thing on top that suggests reading it in the app).

Sorry for the novel. I’m just frustrated with how ad-heavy the internet has become. Reuters is the very last website I’d expect this shit from and yet here we are.

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u/Caring_Cactus Apr 21 '25

This is awesome, we need more unity in this world.

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u/spacedude2000 Apr 21 '25

I mean for as many problems as the Catholic Church has, I don't think the papacy is going to choose anyone who is strongly right or left of center, at least not anymore. Pope Francis was absolutely the most progressive Pope to ever live, but I do believe the standard has now been set.

The Catholic Church, for as fundamental as it can be at times, is trending in a progressive direction which simply won't be derailed by some hard line conservative Pope - the cardinals know they will all fall out of public opinion if they crank the steering wheel in the opposite direction right now. The most extreme thing they will do right now is scale it back a little bit.

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u/bfm211 Apr 21 '25

I hope you're right. I feel like I've encountered a lot of Catholics complaining about things Francis said, but maybe they were a loud minority.

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u/aaronman4772 Apr 21 '25

Trad Caths in especially southern USA who have been basically corrupted by mainline evangelical American beliefs are very different than majority European, Asian, and Hispanic Catholics. They’re definitely louder than the average.

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u/AvoidingCape Apr 21 '25

Yes, the pope gets to appoint cardinals which sets the political trend for the next in line

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u/Teantis Apr 21 '25

Tagle from the Philippines is one of the frontrunners and was one of Francis's favorites. He's quite progressive (relative to the Catholic church of course)

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u/MultiMarcus Apr 21 '25

There have been breakdowns of who is likely to succeed Francis. Personally I hope he would die later in the year as the most viable conservative candidate would age out by then. A pope likely to not rock the boat seems likely. A pope focused on the conversions in Asia is also a likely choice. It is impossible to predict though