What Democracies Can Learn From the Election of The New Pope — The Conclave?
Election of the new Pope has electrified the world’s attention, but what can we learn from this ancient process in this age of election campaigning, 24 hour news cycle, information overload and disinformation campaigning by malicious actors? Catholic Church as Flag Bearer of Western Civilization and Its Values After the passing of Pope Francis curious and ancient tradition of the Conclave kicks off to select a new Pope. The Catholic Church h as 252 cardinals and not all will be voting, or even participating in the Conclave. As of April 30 the seventh general congregation included 181 cardinals, with 124 of the 133 voting cardinal s present. Francis has personally appointed about 80% of the cardinals who will elect the next pope. Some of them are, however, very conservative or otherwise oppose Francis' reform agenda despite this. Efforts by powerful conservative Catholic groupings were reportedly well underway days before the Conclave commenced. At the start of the procedure al...