What do we want from our next pope?

Some cardinals are criticizing Pope Francis for being too liberal. Are they correct? Or was he more aware of the world than they are?

For a long time, I was a lapsed Catholic, attending only now and then even after having been raised Catholic and after spending my youth planning to become a nun. For a few years, I bounced around from one religion to another, trying to find a place to call home. Sometimes I just lost the will to find something.

I was also angry with the Catholic Church because of popes who said that a woman’s role was to have children and raise them as good Catholics. That’s it? What about women who remain single? What about women who cannot have children? What about nuns? What about women who just don’t want to be mothers? I felt completely devalued. Why did God give me a brain and then not want me to use it?

Fast forward several years, and now I'm once again active in the Catholic Church and in my parish. What made me change?

Pope Francis. His generosity of spirit, his welcoming of all people, his balance of Scripture with the issues of the modern world, his deep consideration of issues, his willingness to call out evil when others were too afraid, the inclusion of women in the two-year synod, asking Catholics all over the world for their input on issues to be discussed at the synod, and much more. He asked, and we answered. Loudly

Pope Francis greets a women’s delegation to the Synod.

For the first time since Pope John XXIII, I felt like my concerns were validated. I felt included, and I felt like I belonged. I still have many questions about the existence of God, of miracles, of Bible stories, and other issues. For example, historically there is no evidence that Jews were enslaved in Egypt. There is some historical mention of Jesus, but it’s scant. All we know of him is what we are told by his friends. Isn’t that something valid?

But I'm told now that it's OK to have questions because all of us have questions. And we should not be afraid to have them. The important thing is to follow the words of Jesus and to live by His example. Everything else falls by the wayside when we do that. If we are good to each other, if we temper our anger, if we take care of vulnerable people, if we accept that all of us are imperfect... things like these are what make a livable world. These are the things that Jesus taught us, and they are worth taking into our hearts and souls.

Pope Francis rattled some of the most conservative clergy in the Church. He accepted gay people and said it was OK to bless their unions. He refused to judge the way God made them. He gave women more prominent roles in the Church… as representatives and advisers instead of relegating them to organizing bake sales and doing the clerical work of the parish. He openly welcomed all people and all faith leaders. He rebuked those who would divide us, who would marginalize vulnerable people, who would worship wealth rather than generosity. He was critical of bishops and others who believed that they were “princes of the Church,” living in relative splendor and expecting regal treatment. No, he said. Clerics should be servants of the people. They should not elevate themselves to a higher order. And many clerics did not like that. The pope was telling them to get off their high horses and start relating to the rest of the world

Francis kisses the feet of young men trying to overcome drug addiction.

Now the slings and arrows are coming out, as the cardinals meet to select a new leader. Even those who were the confidants of Francis are now stabbing him in the back. This is a man who refused to live in the decked-out Papal Apartments but chose instead a humble room in the guest house with only a bed and a night stand. Guests often remarked that he heated his own meals in the microwave! This is a man who lived the simple way Jesus did.

I now worry that our next pope will take a giant step backward. I hear stories of cardinals who think Pope Francis was too liberal. (There's that dangerous word again!) The want to return to the clericalism that has plagued the Church for too many years... centuries. I pray that our next pope will honor the memory of Francis by carrying out his sense of humility, goodness, intelligence, compassion, and love.

I wait with bated breath for that white smoke, and I wonder what message it will send to those of us who hope for better.

Francis taking selfies with young people.

Barack Obama welcomes Pope Francis to the White House.

President Zelenskyy greets Pope Francis at the Vatican.