The conclave must begin, at the latest 20 days from the day on which
the previous […].Pope dies. During the nine days of official mourning,
all Vatican flags are flown at half mast. The five bells of Dt. Peter’s take
up a traditional mourning cadence, tolling for Hours on end each day
and into the night. Vatican attendants prepare the body for burial,
washing and embalming it […]. When nine days of official mourning
are over Requiem Mass is sung in Dt. Peter’s attended by all cardinals in
Rome, by the diplomatic corps, by government representatives,
and by tens of thousands of Roman Catholics […]. – Malachi Martin.[i]
The world seems to be at standstill as the avalanche of tributes pour down the smallest state in the world, the Vatican City. South Africans are also beating their drums of acclamation and approbation of a man who walked into the Conclave with broken shoes, preferring to ride in public transport and paying his own bills. It is now apposite time to look back. Let me start by quoting an email message which was forwarded to me by my colleague and friend, Professor Fred Henricks, as I started writing this brief article. He also brought my attention to the obituary published in the JACOBIN Magazine, from which I will quote later. The email was a press release by “Abahlali Basemjondolo,” an organisation of more than 150 000 shack dwellers. It stated: “Pope Francis never accepted the fact that there was inequality in the world. He was against the atrocities in Palestine and in South Sudan. He visited countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, where there are deep and terrible wars. Although there is still a long way to go he moved the church closer to justice for LGBTI+ people. He understood that everyone is equal, that it is the forces of oppression that deny this and that society must reflect the equality of all human beings.
Pope Frances touched issues that must have been difficult for him to raise, such as the West being responsible for taking the minerals in Africa and leaving Africa in dire poverty. He visited leaders like Fidel Castro and the great footballer Diego Maradona. He also encouraged the working together of all religions, and tried to build peace and respect across religious divisions.”[ii]
Saturday, 27 April 2025 will see the internment of Pope Francis. He is the third head of the Roman Catholic Church to depart from this side of paradise in the 21st century, following on Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. The latter resigned in 2013 and passed away in 2022. Brief historical steps back in time to the second half of the twentieth century and the departure of Popes always manifested the interesting dramatic and theatrical spectacle of the election of the Bishop of Rome by the College of Cardinal. The electoral process is often preceded by behind-the-scene intrigues of lobbying, persuasion, factions, cabals, blocs, and changes of fortune, which transpire before the next Pope is elected and occupies the sede vacante (the Vacant See). The factions can be broadly categorized as Traditionalists, Conservatives, Progressivists and Radicals.[iii] A Cardinal once described the tense atmosphere in the Conclave which elected Pope John Paul II thus: “We ate supper together, but there was very little discussion. In the cool breeze of the courtyard of San Damasco, we took our evening stroll in silence. There was a strange tension among us. To this day I have no human explanation for the choice [of Karol Wojtyla] on the following day.”[iv]
A few interesting facts about the Roman Curia – the administrative body of the church, the process and procedures of election, the papal dress code, idiosyncratic challenges of the incumbents’ pontificate and some ecclesiastical attributes might worth touching on in passing. I would also like to indulge in looking at the fortunes of the last six popes from the latter half of the twentieth century to date, namely, Cardinal Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (Pope John XXIII), Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini (Pope Paul VI), Cardinal Albino Luciani (John Paul I), Cardinal Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II), Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) and Cardinal Joge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis). It is a long-standing and invariable tradition that after a papabile, that is, a member of the Vatican College legible to be elected pope, accepts his election, the Cardinal Dean of the College announces, habemus papam! (‘we have a pope’). The new pope chooses a name by which he will be known as the Pontifex Maximus (Supreme Pontiff). In the past, incumbents often chose a name from the past Popes, and a numerical is suffixed to the name, which indicates how many of his predecessors have taken the name.
Pope John Paul I was the first to choose a double-barrelled name, which was derived from two of his immediate predecessors, Pope John XXIII and Paul VI. His pontificate lasted only for 33 days.[v] One of the most renowned Vaticanologists, David Yallop, suggested that the Pope’s foremost acts was to request investigations of the financial affairs of the Vatican Bank, officially called the Institute for the Works of Religion. After receiving an interim report, “Within hours Albino Luciani was dead and the lies and cover-up surrounding the death of the Thirty-three-day Pope had begun,” Yallop controversially postulated.[vi] His successor followed suit with the new tradition and chose the name John Paul II. The jury is still out whether John Paul I died of natural causes or was poisoned[vii] because he was about to probe into alleged corrupt activities of untouchable cardinals like Archbishop Paul Marcinkus,[viii] who served as the Bishop of Chicago and Governor of the Vatican Bank and was implicated in malfeasance worth billions of dollars.[ix] Ratzinger reverted to the old tradition of a singular name, and Francis was the first to take a name which none in the lineage of Popes took, hence the name without a numerical prefix. He was also the first Jesuit to be elected pope. A fascinating fact is that he took the name of St Francis of Assisi, a worthy saint and descendant of the family of one of the most powerful and absolutely corrupt Pope of the 15th century, Pope Alexander VI.[x] Alexander was a spawn of the notorious Borgia family, whose history is brilliantly chronicled by a work of an eponymous title.[xi]
The Code of Canon Law comprises what can be regarded as to codification of Roman Catholic constitution, rules and procedure. It was promulgated in 1917 by Pope Benedict XV. The code prescribed that only Cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible for vote. After the deceased pope has been laid to rest, the Camerlengo takes over administration of the Holy See until a new Pope is elected. After the burial the Camerlengo convenes the Conclave, where the voting cardinals go into seclusion in order to vote. The papal election takes place in the Sistine chapel, where the walls are adorned with murals painted by the great artist of the 16th century, Michelangelo. The election requires a two-thirds majority for a successful candidate. Canon Law 332 states that: “After his acceptance, the person elected […] is immediately Bishop of the Church of Rome, true Pope and Head of the College of Bishops. He thus acquires [authority] and can exercise full and supreme power over the universal church.”[xii] Cardinal Wojtyla’s theatre background came into play when he accepted his election with a script hand written in Latin.
Before the election takes place a few white papal regalia are tailored. “For the new pope who will be elected at the conclave, the Vatican tailors prepare three sets of vestments, large, medium and small sets of white cassocks, white slippers embroidered with a gold cross, white skull cap, red rochets, red cloaks, and red stoles.”[xiii] The Pope elect dresses up and appears to greet the crowd congregated in St Peter’s Square. Elections can be protracted over a number of days before the threshold is reached. The longest election transpired in the Conclave which elected Pope Gregory X. It lasted from November 1268 until September 1271, but “he was not consecrated as the Bishop of Rome until March 27, 1272.”[xiv]
The Popes have come from a variety of social class backgrounds. However, they were all highly educated. John XXIII was born in 1881, in a family of peasant farmers.[xv] Paul VI was born in 1897 and graduated at the University of Milan.[xvi] John Paul I’s father was a labourer in a factory.[xvii] He was born in 1912, the first Pope to be born in the 20th century and the second generation in his family to get formal education.[xviii] He graduated at the Gregorian University in Rome and taught moral theology, canon law and sacred art.[xix] John Paul II was born in 1920. His father was a non-commissioned officer in the army, and his mother was a teacher. She died of heart and kidney related problems nine years after Karol was born. He was brought up by his father, who died of a heart attack twelve years later.[xx] He studied at the Angelicum University in Rome and took his doctoral degree summa cum laude. His thesis was on “the idea of faith in the thought of St. John of the Cross.”[xxi] He subsequently became a university professor[xxii] of moral theology.[xxiii]
He was the first non-Italian Pope in 450 years and was fluent in Polish, Italian, French, German, English and Portuguese. [xxiv] Cardinal Wyszynski made the following remark: “The decision of the conclave has crossed the barrier of four centuries of tradition in the Church: the barrier of language and the barrier of nationality. It seemed it would be difficult for the cardinals and the Roman people to accept the decision. Bu to the contrary, the election of a Pole has been natural and simple, and the acceptance by the Roman people has been warm and spontaneous!”[xxv]
After his election, he was portrayed as a Cardinal who “possessed nothing. He had only three threadbare cassocks, four red ones, his skis and the paddles for the canoe. Everything he received he gave away. He ate little, he did not smoke, he drank very little wine.”[xxvi] He was vociferous on social justice. He was criticised by the Curia on that theme. His retort was that “I have made and still make my option for the poor. I identify with them […]. I feel the weight of responsibility to leave noting untired in serving the cause of justice and solidarity among the citizens of a country and among nations. For a better tomorrow.”[xxvii]
John Paul II’s successor, Benedict XVI, was born in 1927 in Bavaria, Germany. His father was a police officer. Ratzinger dedicated himself to studying and in 1958 he became full professor at the age of 31 and taught at various German universities. All Popes wrote tomes of books and encyclicals, but Ratzinger was one of the most prolific. Only two Cardinals, Ratzinger and Etchegaray, were brought into the insular, powerful, conservative and rigid Curia by John Paul II.[xxviii] Popes typically do not abdicate or retire, but they occupy the See till death. On February 11, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI stunned the resident cardinals in a meeting held on February 11, 2913 by announcing: “I have convoked you in this consistory […]. After having repeatedly examined my own science before God, I have come to the certainty that my strength, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry […]. I have to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me […]. I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of St Peter, entrusted to me by the cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and the conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.”[xxix]
After his resignation he was accorded the title of Pope Emeritus.[xxx] The last of five Popes who resigned was Celestine V, who resigned in 1415.[xxxi] Francis was born in 1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, of Italian immigrants. His father was a railway worker. He joined the priesthood against his mother’s fierce opposition. He studied the humanities in Chile, philosophy and theology in Argentina, taught at a seminary in Argentina,[xxxii] was appointed vice chancellor and completed a doctorate in Freiburg, Germany, on the subject, ‘reflections of apostolic life.’ While it is true that he was the first Pope elected from outside Europe, his line of ancestry is Italian, and he was of the first generation born in South America.
Obviously the six Popes came from different family, social, religious and political contexts. The challenges that they contended with were just as widely diverse, as the geopolitics of their epochs evolved and posed new challenges. Thus, they stamped individual personalities, despite the fact that there were recurring features of world politics which affected them in more or less the same way, within and outside the church. The world being so complex, one can only simplify it by selecting major historical markers which affected the world at large. One would like to take the risk of oversimplifying and err on the enthusiastic rather than the conservative side of historical discourse. Events that had an impact on the church and institutional religion in the 20th century were World War I, the Russian Revolution, the Atomic Bomb, World War II, the rise of communism and its nation states in Asia and Europe, Fascism, the Cold War, new configuration of the Balkan states, the Great Depression, students uprisings in Europe and liberation movements, liberation theology in South America, schisms in the church, and reconfiguration of the world after the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the rise of new liberation movements. Except for Francis, all the Popes experienced the horrors of World War II at close orbit, and in one way or another, it had an impact on their individual world views.
John XXIII ascended to the papacy in the late 1950s until the early 1960s. He was active in saving some Jews from the Holocaust. His major act of transformation was convening the Second Vatican Council, which subsequently brought about many modernising changes in the church, including the Liturgy from Latin. He preached social egalitarianism and practised ecumenism, intervened in the Italian political landscape by bringing together two politically opposed parties to cooperate. He did not live to see the conclusion of the Vatican Council. The task was left to Paul VI to complete. The irony of Montini’s election to the papacy was that John XXIII banished him to Florence. The reason was that Montini wrote a report which implicated the Pope’s nephew in financial corrupt activities. The nephew was a Cardinal. Paul VI completed the Vatican Council. One of the major changes which it brought about was the abolition of the Tridentine Mass (Traditional Latin Mass) and opened the language of the Liturgy to vernaculars. The unintended consequences of this radical change was the polarisation of the three alliances; traditionalists and conservatives on the one hand and progressionists and radicals on the other. One of the most recalcitrant traditionalists was a Swiss Bishop, Marcel Lefebvre. He vehemently opposed the liberalisation of the Church instituted by the Vatican Council and was suspended by Pope Paul VI. Lefebvre was recalcitrant and provocative. His conflict with the pontificate was inherited by John Paul II, who reluctantly excommunicated him by virtue of Canon Law[xxxiii] in 1988.
John Paul II’s multilingualism made him one of the most competent communicators, and he took the papacy to the world, as the most widely travelled Pope. The Roman Curia was critical of his frequent pilgrimages across the globe. His response, as expressed on is visit to the African continent, was that “Some people in Europe think that the Pope should not travel, that he should stay in Rome, as was always done […]. And this strengthens my conviction that the time has come for the Bishop of Rome to – that is, the pope – not to think of himself exclusively as the successor of Peter, but also as the heir of St Paul, as we well know, never stood still; he was always travelling. And what is true for him is also true of those who work with him in Rome.”[xxxiv] A Turkish national shot him right in St Peter’s Square on 13 May 1981. After the attempted assassination Cardinal Albert Decourtray of France warned him from visiting France. He was adamant and determined, and him, perhaps tongue in cheek, that: “I assure you, Your Eminence, there is no place more dangerous than St Peter’s Square!”[xxxv]
Having grown up under the draconian regime of the Polish government and at times went dangerously head-on with the regime during his priesthood, he was adverse to Communism. “Wojtyla fought battles against the Communist regime, but then the Bishop of Krakow did not use clamorous denunciations or explicit political interventions …]. In fact he made an important contribution to the politico-cultural organization called Znak (Sign) […]” and “He also collaborated with Odrodzenie, a clandestine group directly dependent on Cardinal Wyszynski […]. Communist authorities consistently refused to grant him permission for the construction of the new church.”[xxxvi] Perhaps this is what led to what was regarded as his misunderstanding of the Communism version of South America, which was a resistance to ruling by juntas.
John Paul II opened the dialogue with the Eastern Orthodox Church, and to Islam and Judaism.[xxxvii] His generosity was so extensive that he canonised a record-breaking 483 saints, “more than the combined tally of his predecessors during the preceding five centuries.[xxxviii] He initiated the Great Jubilee 2000, which called upon the church to become more active in evangelisation. He was the longest serving Pope; up to 27 years in 2005 at the age of 84. His beatification and canonisation were the fastest in the history of the Catholic Church. Benedict XVI was a close ally of his predecessor, and their positions coincided on a number of doctrinal themes. Among them were questions of abortion, birth control or artificial contraception, clerical celibacy, and ordination of women. On abortion. They took the orthodox line, and objected to the United Nations’ Cairo Conference of 1994 and its position on sterilisation and abortion.[xxxix] The rise and exposure of sexual abuse of children by the Catholic clergy and the rights of LGBTQI+ rose to attention gradually during their papacy. By the time of Francis’ election it had long reached its climax and criticism against the papacy was that not enough was done to address it.
Francis was unique in several ways. He was the first Pope who was born and bred in South America. He was vociferously critical of powerful and corrupt figures in the government of Argentina. He lived a frugal life almost to the point of austerity, and connected with the underprivileged and poor. This lifestyle was manifest immediately after his election. He refused to wear the papal paraphernalia and the traditional red shoes, preferring to wear his worn-out shoes. On the question of sexual preference, he was empathetic and desisted from condemnation of gay and lesbian rights. He stood firm in the face of harsh criticism by conservatives and traditionalists. “In the past, the Pope has admonished some American Catholics as excessively conservative, “backward,” and “reactionary” to progress, especially in the context of gay rights and women being ordained.”[xl]
One writer described him as “an amiable model breaker” and elaborated: “Days before going to the hospital in Rome in February 2025, Pope Francis sent a very strong rebuke to American bishops for their tepid response to the mass deportation orders of the Trump administration. […]. It unequivocally condemned the actions of the US government. It was eloquently grounded in Catholic social teachings and scripture, clearly calling out members of the US hierarchy whose responses had tended to ignore the urgency of this appalling and destructive policy […]. This letter to the American bishops showed Francis’s understanding of the multipronged crises facing Catholicism in the United States. It was also an excellent example of his acute political antennae and his willingness not to shy away from confrontation in the name of the Church, its teaching, and the responsibility of standing up for the most marginalized.[xli]
A journalist and political scientist succinctly describes him thus in comparison with his immediate predecessors: “Elected in 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the first Latin American pope in history, brought to the Vatican a concern for social justice rooted in the radical liberation theology of his home region — along with an unprecedented focus on environmental issues and migrants’ rights. This was a dramatic shift in priorities after the conservative pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, both of whom were more concerned with upholding traditional morality than with reviving basic Christian values of equality and fraternity.”[xlii] When he was Bishop of Buenos Aires, on the Palm Sunday of 2000 he proclaimed: “Today the place for Christ is the street; the place for the Christian is the street. The Lord wants us like him: with an open heart, roaming the streets of Buenos Aires and carrying his message.”[xliii] He was a breath of fresh air and fresh spirit in the Vatican, true to the name of the city that he served as Bishop. Its original and full name was “Santa María del Buen Aire” – “Our Lady of the Good Air.”[xliv]
Cardinal Stephen Brislin, the Bishop of the Archdiocese of Johannesburg said: “While he was lauded by many as a reformer who pushed the church in a more progressive direction for addressing issues such as climate change, LGBTQ+ inclusion and economic equality, some conservative voices within the church accused the pope of straying from traditional Catholic doctrine […]. Francis was probably the pope who received the most abuse in the modern era, sadly, very often from within the catholic church rather than without.” I would suggest the “within the church” refers to the powerful Roman Curia and some resident Cardinals. Of the Vatican, who are active in the administration of the church.[xlv]
The observation predicts that the Catholic Church is likely to move to the right after the election of Francis’ successor hangs in the balance. Now that the curtain has gone down on the stage of a Pope who sought to shake the foundation of conservatism and traditionalism, the Conclave will go into seclusion for election of the successor on the Petrine Chair. The next act begins, as Yallop observed, that ‘“WHEN THE POPE DIES, we make another one.’ So rubs a popular saying in Rome.”[xlvi] It remains to be seen whether the Vatican College will go outside the Romance language speakers for a third time, after Wojtyla and Ratzinger, Polish and German respectively. But more than that, what matters most is the direction that the next occupant of the Holy See will take in the three-pronged diverging paths of traditionalism, conservatism and progressivism.
Nhlanhla Maake
[i] Martin, M. 1978. The Final Conclave. Pocket Books. New York, p.114.
[ii] Mohapi, T., Bonono, M. and Mncanyana S. 2025. Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement., “We celebrate the Life of Pope Francis, a pope for the People of the World.” Tuesday, 22 Apr 2025, 16:20.
[iii] Martin, M. 1978. The Final Conclave. Pocket Books. New York, p.110.
[iv] Wynn, W. 1988. Keepers of the Keys. Random House. New York, p38.
[v] Spackman, P. 2008. God’s Candidate, The Life and Times of Pope John Paul I. Gracewing. Herefordshire.
[vi] Yallop, D. 2007. The Power and the Glory, Inside the dark heart of John Paul II’s Vatican. Constable Robinson Ltd. London, pp.3, 58, 198 – 199, and 517.
[vii] Opposing view by Yallop on the one hand and Spackman et al on the other: Yallop, D. 2007. In God’s Name. Constable and Robinson. London; Spackman, P. 2008. God’s Candidate, The Life and Times of Pope John Paul I. Gracewing. Herefordshire.
[viii] Yallop, D. 2007. The Power and the Glory, Inside the dark heart of John Paul II’s Vatican. Constable Robinson Ltd. London, p. 49.
[ix] Yallop, D. 2007. The Power and the Glory, Inside the dark heart of John Paul II’s Vatican. Constable Robinson Ltd. London, pp. 51 and 198 – 199.
[x] McBrien, R. P. 2006. The Pocket Guide to the Popes. HarperSanFrancisco. New York, pp.248 – 251. See also the thrilling novel based on the life of Pope Alexander VI, Puzo, M. 2003. The Family. Arrow Books. London.
[xi] Fusero, C. 1974 . The Borgias. Transworld Publishers Ltd. London.
[xii] Caparros, E., Theriault, M and Thorn, J, et al (eds.) 2004. 2nd Edition. Code of Canon Law. Wilson & Lafleur Ltée. Montréal.
[xiii] Martin, M. 1978. The Final Conclave. Pocket Books. New York, p.114.
[xiv] Bunson, M. 2013. Pope Francis. Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, p.203.
[xv] Tamm, V. 2003. (Ed.). Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography, The Most Comprehensive Coverage, from Ancient Times to Present Day. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston, p.810 – 811, and McBrien, R. P. 2006. The Pocket Guide to the Popes. HarperSanFrancisco. New York, p.321 – 324.
[xvi] Tamm, V. 2003. (Ed.). Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography, The Most Comprehensive Coverage, from Ancient Times to Present Day. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston, p.1181.
[xvii] Tamm, V. 2003. (Ed.). Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography, The Most Comprehensive Coverage, from Ancient Times to Present Day. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston, p.811.
[xviii] Spackman, P. 2008. God’s Candidate, The Life and Times of Pope John Paul I. Gracewing. Herefordshire, p.vii and 2.
[xix] Goetz, P. W. (ed.) 1989 (15th Edition). Encyclopedia Britannica., Vol. 6 Macropædia. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. Chicago, p.590.
[xx] O’Connor, G. 2005. Universal Father, The Life of Pope John Paul II. Bloomsbury P Publishers Plc. London, p.12.
[xxi] Weigel, G. 2010. The End and the Beginning. Image Books. New York. , p.8.
[xxii] Yallop, D. 2007. The Power and the Glory, Inside the dark heart of John Paul II’s Vatican. Constable Robinson Ltd. London, p.9. ‘with maximum marks in every section’ p.8.
[xxiii] Tamm, V. 2003. (Ed.). Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography, The Most Comprehensive Coverage, from Ancient Times to Present Day. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston, p.811.
[xxiv] Tamm, V. 2003. (Ed.). Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography, The Most Comprehensive Coverage, from Ancient Times to Present Day. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston, p.811. According to another source, it is 456 years. See 1989 (15th Edition). Encyclopedia Britannica., Vol. 6 Macropædia. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. Chicago, p.590.
[xxv] Accattoli, L. 2001. John Paul II Man of the Millennium, . St Paul. Mumbai, p.60.
[xxvi] Chelini, J. Jean Paul II. Editions Jean Voujon. Paris, p54.
[xxvii] Accattoli, L. 2001. John Paul II Man of the Millennium, . St Paul. Mumbai, p. 224.
[xxviii] Accattoli, L. 2001. John Paul II Man of the Millennium, . St Paul. Mumbai, p.198.
[xxix] Bunson, M. 2013. Pope Francis. Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, pp. 25 – 26.
[xxx] Petin, E. 2013. https://www.ncregister.com/news/benedict-s-new-name-pope-emeritus-his-holiness-benedict-xvi-roman-pontiff-emeritus (accessed on 22 April 2025).
[xxxi] McBrien, R. P. 2006. The Pocket Guide to the Popes. HarperSanFrancisco. New York, pp.213 – 214.
[xxxii] Bunson, M. 2013. Pope Francis. Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, p.26
[xxxiii] Caparros, E., Theriault, M and Thorn, J, et al (eds.) 2004. 2nd Edition. Code of Canon Law. Wilson & Lafleur Ltée. Montréal.Canon 1331, pp.1038 – 1039.
[xxxiv] Accattoli, L. 2001. John Paul II Man of the Millennium, . St Paul. Mumbai, p.143.
[xxxv] Accattoli, L. 2001. John Paul II Man of the Millennium, . St Paul. Mumbai, p.121.
[xxxvi] Accattoli, L. 2001. John Paul II Man of the Millennium, . St Paul. Mumbai, p.39.
[xxxvii] Accattoli, L. 2001. John Paul II Man of the Millennium. St Paul. Mumbai, pp.161 – 165 and 167 – 171.
[xxxviii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II.
[xxxix] Accattoli, L. 2001. John Paul II Man of the Millennium. St Paul. Mumbai, pp. 147 – 150.
[xl] Balevic, K. “Amid LGBTQ frictions in Christian faiths, the Pope warns against ‘basking in some elegant religious theory’ instead of loving the poor,” https://www.businessinsider.com/lqbtq-pope-warns-focus-elegant-religious-theory-poor-2024-1 (accessed on 24 April 2025).
[xli] https://jacobin.com/2025/04/pope-francis-social-justice-obituary/#:~:text=Although%20he%20had%20a%20conservative,by%20figures%20like%20J.%20D.%20Vance. (accessed on 23 April 2025).
[xlii] Castaño, P. 2025. “After pope Francis, a Catholic Move Rightward Seems Likely,” in JACOBIN 04.21.2025. https://jacobin.com/2025/04/pope-francis-catholic-church-right (accessed on 23 April 2025)
[xliii] Bunson, M. 2013. Pope Francis. Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, p.157.
[xliv] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Buenos_Aires.
[xlv] https://www.ewn.co.za/2025/04/23/cardinal-stephen-brislin-describes-francis-as-most-abused-pope-in-modern-era.
[xlvi] Yallop, D. 2007. The Power and the Glory, Inside the dark heart of John Paul II’s Vatican. Constable Robinson Ltd. London, p.4.
