“But the other way to look at the dawn of this papacy is that it is one more in the pile of recent Catholic novelties and mediocrities. He is the first Latin American pope, the first Jesuit to be pope, and the first to take the name Francis. And so he falls in line with the larger era of the church in the past 50 years which has been defined by ill-considered experimentation: a “pastoral” ecumenical council at Vatican II, a new synthetic vernacular liturgy, the hasty revision of the rules for almost all religious orders within the church, the dramatic gestures and “saint factory” of Pope John Paul II’s papacy, along with the surprise resignation of Benedict XVI. In this vision, Benedict’s papacy, which focused on “continuity,” seems like the exception to an epoch of stunning and unsettling change, which—as we know—usually heralds collapse.

There are reasons to believe that Pope Francis is a transitional figure, unlikely to effect major reform at the top of the church. He is not known as a champion of any theological vision, traditional or modern. He is just two years younger than Pope Benedict was upon his election eight years ago. He has deep connections to Italy, but little experience with the workings of the Vatican offices. A contentious reading of Pope Francis’ rise is that Benedict’s enemies have triumphed completely. It is unusual for a one-time rival in a previous election to triumph in a future one. And there is almost no path to Bergoglio’s election without support from curial Italians, combined with a Latin American bloc. Low-level conspiracy theories already flourish in Italy that Benedict’s resignation was the result of a curia determined to undermine his reforms. This election will only intensify that speculation. An older pope who does not know which curial offices and officers need the ax, will be even easier to ignore than Benedict.

Besides his lack of knowledge of the ins and outs of the Vatican, there is almost no evidence of him taking a tough line with anyone in his own diocese. Are we to believe that Buenos Aires has been spared the moral rot and corruption found almost everywhere else in the Catholic clergy? Or, more likely, do we have another Cardinal who looked the other way, and studiously avoided confrontation with the “filth” in the church, no matter the danger to children or to the cause of the church?  Presumption and detraction are sins, but Catholics should gird themselves; the sudden spotlight on his reign may reveal scandal and negligence.”

Comment:

Meanwhile, at ibtimes.com, Conor Adams Sheets noted the following, just before Francis’ accession:

“Even an opinion writer for Pravda, a communist newspaper in Russia, discussed such beliefs two days after Pope Benedict made the unexpected announcement:

“Last night, a lightning stroke [sic] a dome in the city of the Vatican,” he wrote, referencing a widely circulated image showing the freak natural occurrence. “Was it a plot of Haarp program or a sign of an angry sky? Of course, it could be considered as a sign of the Illuminati, one day after the pope’s resignation, which has despaired many of the traditionalist Catholics who believed in him as their last chance.”

Haarp is the acronym for the High Frequency Active Auroral Program, an Alaska-based program funded by the United States military, the University of Alaska and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It has been invoked in a number of wild conspiracy theories, and the Pravda writer, Nicolas Bonnal, invoked the program’s name in the same breath as his mention of the Illuminati, pointing to the wide range of rumors that have plagued the Catholic Church since Pope Benedict declared that he would be resigning from the papacy.

A variety of conspiracy theories about the Catholic Church gained international attention when author Dan Brown’s popular novels, including 2003 best-seller “The DaVinci Code,” discussed a number of conspiracy theories about the founding of Christianity and the history of Catholicism, including the concept that there was a fight between the shadowy Priory of Sion and Opus Dei groups over the possibility that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene.

The popular books include repeated references to — and symbols of — leading conspiracies about the church, drawing from rumors about the Knights of the Templar, pentacles, Satanism, the legend of the Holy Grail and more.”