Dear Parishioners,

I am writing this before the first session of the conclave. So, if we already have a new Holy Father, what I have to say may seem out of date.

I have noticed something about this recent conclave: this one seems to be a lot more political than the other conclaves I have lived through. Online people are speculating a lot over who will be the next Pope and just casually observing, I know more about the papabile cardinals than I have in previous conclaves. This could be because Pope Francis’s election was such a surprise and people do not want to be caught off guard again. Or, it could be because we have so much more information than we did in previous elections. Speculation in itself isn’t wrong. But, one thing I notice is how worried people are. We worry about whether or not he will be good or bad; capable or incapable; progressive or traditional; first world or third world. While I can see some concern, I think this idle worrying and speculation is not good for your soul and I am going to give you reasons not to worry.

First, Christ is in charge of His Church and God will not allow His Church to be destroyed. According to Matthew 16:18, “The gates of hell will not prevail against it.” While we do not believe God directly selects the next Holy Father, we can trust that the Church will always continue. Furthermore, due to the Pope’s charism of infallibility, even the worst Popes are unable to formally teach error. Pope Francis was accused of teaching errors during his pontificate. However, even in my own articles in this bulletin I have pointed out how more often than not he was terribly misquoted and he never changed official teachings on anything he speculated about. In short, we can trust that the Church will always uphold the faith.

Second, the election is completely outside our own control. So, it is irrational to worry about it. There are so many uncertainties in life and we do not even know what tomorrow will bring. We can drive ourselves crazy with worry over anything. But, Christ does not want us to be afraid. (John 6:20) He wants us to trust in Him. It is better to do well in what we can control and to leave the rest to God.

Third, all the Cardinals are actually Catholic and will uphold the faith. The divide between the cardinals is incredibly exaggerated in the media. There may be a few outliers. However, those cardinals would be unelectable.

Lastly, the best thing we can do is pray. Prayer not only unlocks graces that God is waiting to give us, but it also moves us to align our wills to His. Once we do that, we realize we have nothing to worry about in the first place.

God Bless!

Fr. Carter