Despite the current good health of Pope Francis and having a living pope emeritus, George Weigel weighs in on the Church's priorities for the next pope in his most-recent book, “The Next Pope: The Office of Peter and a Church in Mission.”
The papal expert and author says some of the main points the Church must address are the abuse scandal, financial reform and evangelization.
GEORGE WEIGEL
Author, “The Next Pope”
“The mega issue for next pope is how does he invite back, into the adventure of Christian faith, those who have lost confidence in the Gospel? How does he encourage those who have full confidence in the Gospel, who believe that Jesus Christ is the answer to the question that is everything in life and they want to invite others to know the Lord as well.”
Weigel said this reflects the mission of the Church, which should also eliminate “Catholic light,” or a luckwarm faith.
He asserts another world-wide problem is the abuse crisis. The author credited the work already being done, like creating safe environments, but says it is nowhere near finished.
GEORGE WEIGEL
Author, “The Next Pope”
“The next pope must insist that they entire world Church learn those lessons, put them into practice. Many of those lessons will be learned here in the United States.”
Finally, the Holy See's financial situation. Weigel says the next pope should occupy himself with radical reforms to reverse the possible bankruptcy the Church could face.
GEORGE WEIGEL
Author, “The Next Pope”
“This is due to corruption, incompetence is certainly another. A culture of nepotism in the broad sense of the term in the Vatican is certainly a third and all of these components have been compounded by the world financial distress caused by the coronavirus pandemic.”
While nobody knows when a conclave will be summoned to elect a new pope, George Weigel asserts the next successor of Peter has his work cut out for him. We'll see if the next cardinal to be elected also agrees with these points.
Melissa Butz
