Vance and conservative Catholics in US hope to influence election of new pope [View all]
LONDON – There is a certain irony in the fact that the last foreign leader Pope Francis received, before his passing, for an audience was US Vice-President J.D. Vance.
The meeting between the spiritual leader of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide and the US politician who converted to Catholicism embodies the deep theological division now splitting the Catholic Church between a progressive, more humanistic and global approach promoted by the late Pope and the politically conservative view espoused by Mr Vance and many far-right US leaders.
It is this divide that the Conclave of Cardinals – the Catholic Church’s highest ruling body – will have to bear in mind when it convenes in about two weeks from now to elect a new Pope. And many right-wing Catholic institutions, some encouraged by politicians such as Mr Vance in the US, will be trying to strengthen the hands of conservative cardinals in making their choice.
Several factors made Pope Francis unusual.
A native of Argentina, he was the first pontiff in 1,300 years not to come from Europe, and that counted for a great deal.
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/vance-and-conservative-catholics-in-us-hope-to-influence-election-of-new-pope
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