Michael Sean Winters

Everything outside the Sistine Chapel is, now, pure conjecture and everything inside is up to the cardinals and the Holy Spirit, writes NCR's Michael Sean Winters.  

We may be stuck with labels drawn from the political world. But the cardinals who enter the conclave tomorrow need to select a new pope who recognizes how those labels distort, writes Michael Sean Winters.

For those tuning in late, there will be a conclave starting Wednesday, May 7, to elect the new pope. My columns have focused on some of the deeper issues, and insights drawn from history, to make sense of this secretive and momentous event.

As different as a papal election is from every other kind of election in the modern world, each conclave nonetheless has an internal dynamic that is revealed in the voting, writes columnist Michael Sean Winters.

The cardinals will elect a person next week, not a platform. So, while they are discussing issues facing the church and the world, they are also assessing each other's personalities and character.

The next pope must, like Pope Francis, recognize the great sin of indifference in our time, and relentlessly give voice to those who do not matter in the eyes of high finance or power politics.

More than anything, the church needs a pastor like Pope Francis who is committed to the synodal process to keep the balance between renewal and the wellsprings of tradition, says NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

The axiom "he who enters the conclave a pope, leaves a cardinal" is as wrong as it is ubiquitous. TV commentators repeat it ad nauseam. A review of the last century of conclaves illustrates why it is wrong, and much else!

The cardinals will want to find a new pope committed to Francis' vision of a church. The real question is whether the majority will want someone who is charismatic like Francis, or someone who is more of a manager.

The three primary types of criticism hurled at Pope Francis each betray something unhealthy in the human heart, something that resists the call of the Gospel, something that will likely outlast this pontificate.

It is natural to compare a pope to his predecessors. But many of the comparisons being made now betray an ideological edge that does no justice to the legacy of any of the three most recent popes.

Pope Francis was a pastor, first and foremost, and a good pastor teaches. Any pope's most enduring legacy is the body of magisterial teaching they left behind.

In the next few weeks, the cardinals of the Catholic Church will gather in Rome to bury him and turn their minds and hearts to the selection of a successor. We do not know who will be selected in the conclave. But we do have a good idea of what will happen, and when, during this interregnum.

In a noisy and busy world, in a time of cultural and political polarization, Pope Francis invited us all to listen to the quiet promptings of the Holy Spirit.

From now until Oct. 19, 2031, when we mark the final defeat of the British Army at Yorktown, Americans will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the battles that brought the nation to birth.

Good Friday, NCR's Michael Sean Winters writes, reminds us that Jesus did not only confront injustice and sin but death itself, and he did all this on our behalf. 

The group of higher learning institutions follows "a mission that transcends political cycles and embraces faith and the tools of science to inspire new learning bringing us closer to creation — the source of all health," said Ted Smith.

Acclaimed journalist Philip Shenon's new book Jesus Wept: Seven Popes and the Battle for the Soul of the Catholic Church seemed like a must-read tome when a review copy arrived this winter. Unfortunately, the work is plagued by errors of fact, analysis and understanding.

To ignore all the good works accomplished by USAID over the years is morally and intellectually dishonest. Democrats should nonetheless learn to avoid entangling foreign aid with culture war issues.

The budgetary problems at the bishops' conference are real. No one expected the new administration's policy changes to be so draconian or so immediate. Still, the bishops didn't put up much of a fight, did they?