By BOB BIRD

Time now to discuss “papabili.” Or, Catholic cardinals who might be the next pope.

Pronounced, pa-PA-bee-lee. Please do not offend my sensitive Italian ears by mispronouncing this, like so many do in regards to a favorite pizza cheese. (It is NOT “provolone” with a Long O and Silent E, but pro-vo-LO-nay.)

Alexander Dolitsky, a superb conservative columnist whose essays have regularly appeared here, has revealed his Russian biography to the readers. I will now do so briefly here.

Despite my last name, I am very Italian. My mother Hedda was a spy and scout for the Italian underground, known as partisans. My Uncle Mario, as a teen, blew up a truck of SS troops with a grenade, on its way to slaughter a village that was hiding partisans. 

My dad, Robert was an American GI, an Intel & Recon officer. He met Hedda while he was on patrol, in the final six weeks of the war. I have his pocket diary with many details. He became the commander of the CID/Mediterranean Theater and remained in Italy for two years after the war, prosecuting Americans soldiers who were guilty of crimes. 

They were married in Pisa. My Mom was quadri-lingual. On my first trip to Italy, I sailed on the ill-fated Andrea Doria in 1955, and remember it well. A year later, the ship was T-boned in fog, and sank. I myself speak Italian quite well. I visited many Catholic shrines in Italy with my wife in 2023. We saw the Shroud of Turin in 2010.

The media will come out with various and contradictory assessments about who the next pope might be. All of us will have to chew and digest them, and think for ourselves. But what difference should it make? This is not something the world gets to vote on, right?

Catholics and non-Catholics might all have similar reactions. “Nothing I can do about it, so whatever happens, happens.” Or perhaps, “Who could care, anyway?” This might be fitting responses for atheists and agnostics, but not for Protestants, Evangelicals, Catholics, Jews and Moslems, all of whom pray to the God of Abraham, our “Father in Faith.”

They might even detest or fear the Catholic Church, misunderstand it or ignore it, but none can deny its importance. It is the world’s largest religion. And despite its apparent loss of influence, that influence is still there, and admitted to be so, even by its open enemies, who have long wanted to destroy it.

And while millions have left it, there is an awareness, backed by solid data, that a new seed is sprouting once again. The Church is ever-ancient, and ever-young. This renewal is visible, and depending on your perspective, it is either a new hope or a new threat.

Only a fool thinks that a man who will claim to be “The Vicar of Christ on Earth” does not possess influence. He does. He will. And another confused and contradictory pope will serve the entire world ill.

My stomach has turned in reading the characterizations in the mainstream media regarding the legacy of Pope Francis.

He was anything but humble. He was crude, impulsive and contradictory. Like so many Catholics, he was poorly instructed in Church dogma, and the long-established limits on his own power. He was a tool of globalists. He gave man-made climate change, anti-Americanism, leftist sympathies and Covid-vaxing his priorities, all of which are propped up by the diminishing influence of the globalists, who controlled him.

His confusion was ignored and his better comments emphasized, by priests and bishops who actually knew better, but they played along, mostly out of fear. He banished the truly humble and tradition-minded priests and bishops to the Church attic, suppressed religious orders and institutions who were founded on the same plane, and appointed those who shared his false compassion that would pander to the sins of adultery and homosexuality.

The smart money is that his intentional packing of the College of Cardinals will ensure that this sort of papacy will continue. But smart money is often wrong.

So, how does the humblest worshipper of the God of Abraham, Catholic or not, vote for pope? Well, all of them understand that you can pray. And prayer is effective. Just how it works is a mystery, but there is an old saying that says, “Prayer is man’s strength, and God’s weakness.”

To keep this column short, here is a list of papabili. The first list would be Cardinals who would continue the Francine Legacy of confusion and destruction. 

• Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State.
• Mario Grech, from Malta.
• Sergio Rocha, from Brazil. An Odds-on favorite.
• Luis Tagle, Philippines. Another favorite of the odds-makers.
• Carlos Retes, from Mexico.

Next is a list of those who would make the cleansing and corrections needed to reform the Church and its tarnished reputation. They belong to the Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI school of adherence to timeless truths. None of them are favorites in the sense of the odds, but odds are often wrong.

• Pierbattista Pizzabella, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
• Peter Erdo, Hungary.
• Freddin Besungo, Congo.
• Robert Sarah, Guineau.
• Gerhard Muller, Germany.

The list is incomplete in both categories, and of the 266 popes, the dark horse has often been selected.

So, whether you are Catholic or not, if you want a good pope, pray for it. There is no Dominion voting machine, or paper ballots. My guess is that the Almighty will be even more impressed with prayer emanating from non-Catholics than from Catholics.

And do something that only cheaters do, and in this case, is perfectly legit:

Vote early, and vote often.

Bob Bird is former chair of the Alaskan Independence Party and the host of a talk show on KSRM radio, Kenai.