How is the Pope?

Pope Poll FAQ

How is the pope? Elected

Who is the pope? Robert Francis Prevost, going by the papal name Leo XIV

Can I be pope? Probably not

Trans pope? Female pope? Other flavour pope? that's going to cause an antipope to rise up. Schism or move on

Who are the frontrunners to be pope? See my post here or check out the tag #papabile

Will you be posting about the conclave? Yes

What happens during a conclave? Explanation here

When does the conclave start? The conclave will start on Wednesday, 7 May 2025

Can the Cardinals exit the Cum Cave? Only for a good reason

Can we resurrect the pope? Necromancy and witchcraft don't tend to go over well with the catholic church

Did JD Vance kill the pope? I don't know. you'll have to ask him personally.

How do I become pope? Please follow the instructions on this handy wikihow article

I have been wondering the same thing and I wondered if it was so obvious they didn't bother to explain or no one really knows. I think it's the second because I noticed the same with the conclave is that a lot of those reporters weren't going in much detail or parroting other wrong information and I guess no one is truly that deep into vatican processes most of the time

but I did try to do some reading to figure out what's been happening there, so let's go

Bishops are ordained and appointed to a diocese, aka a district they get to lead. This is LOCATION based so that means that if you're ordaining someone who isn't aligned with the people who live there, you're going to create issues. Obviously certain regions have more SSPX members but that doesn't mean there is a diocese there that would be fitting for them and that would have a vacant seat for them to fill and they are sure as hell not going to create a diocese and snub that off another bishop to accomodate people who oppose the current viewe of the church, makes sense right?

I think that's at least part of it

So the pope who had to deal with them ordaining bishops the first time is John Paul II. He was not the pope who oversaw the 2nd Vatican Council (aka Vatican II) though he was present but he did inherit of course the issues with SSPX.

The SSPX is less than 20 years old when they suggest they want to ordain their own bishops, which by the way is just bananas. It's like you go to the teacher and say 'yes, I'll pick what grades I'm getting.' you can't just do that, it's bestowed on you.

Our Pope JP II warned them not to do it in a strongly worded letter that lays out part of the issue and that people should conclude by themselves that they erroneously interpret Vatican II and that they arbitrarely apply doctrines, liturgy and discipline as they see fit, meaning they pick and choose what fits them without honouring the complete vision.

Mind you that Pope JP II was not exactly super modern on the matter, he had a conservative interpretation of Vatican II but nevertheless followed it as such and still found much fault in the approach of SSPX.

So they've basically been warned not to create bishops and he proposed to assemble a few people to get conversations going to make sure the priests are properly ordained and everyone is aligning and bla bla bla. It's an olive branch on someone who is decided that they don't need the pope to appoint bishops

so this happens anyway, JP II calls it a schismatic act and excommunicates them. Pope Francis later then tries to reach out once again and kind of rectifies their status in the hopes of bringing them back into the church but that doesn't really work so now Leo XIV has had to do the same, warning them and then of course sticking to his word and excommunicating them.

So when they wrote the 1983 Canon Law, apparently the reason why the appointment of bishops is so detailed was specifically to bar SSPX from using it to appoint their own bishops. Because some regions in like France and Germany do have a say in the appointment of their own bishops (I think for France it was specific regions of like Metz/Nancy?) but they DO still need approval from the pope after they've (s)elected someone. But anyway they made sure those people were still allowed to do that because it had historically been that way and make sure SSPX doesn't use it as like a loophole. I can just imagine the most petty person wording this meticulously like F you specifically SSPX

So it didn't go over just a few weeks or something, they've been creating issues since their very beginnings and the church has both been very firm on a few things and yet trying to close the gap between them with little success. Leo XIV did what his predecessor did ( Pope John Paul II) and stood firm on the excommunication, which is a good thing. Showing some backbone is a good sign, not just towards members of SSPX but to the broader world. It's good to know the pope will speak up, because no one really wants to anger the pope, that's just a bad look. Additionally excommunicating those bishops who have always have been causing issues, is just a good choice on a reputational level. Very little to lose for the church because the only people who will be mad about it are the people in SSPX (and they knew what they were doing) and all the rest is going to go 'nice, this pope is taking a stance'

the lord be with you

Sorry my queen/king, I am indeed still posting. Very infrequently but unfortately I am completely here for the Drama.

Schismic has been used in the past but schismatic is largely considered the correct form but indeed who are we to argue with the pope. If he says it ...

(Also excommunicated)

I guess? You'll have to believe me when I tell you that I was not alive to witness the old type of mass and even if I did, I only have attended a handful of masses in my life (reluctantly, might I add!)

I'd phone my grandma (raised atheist but was sent to a catholic boarding school with nuns for a while to keep her safe in WWII) but she is hard of hearing and has dementia so we'd be really rolling the dice on that reply

Joke's aside, I will now google this and report back

So back then (and still often) churches were built to face East to face the rising sun so they can see it when Jesus comes back?? (There seem to be several reasons but nevertheless, this was only a thing starting from the 8th century. Mainly priests were leading the congregation in their journey to God (?) rather than speaking to the congregation. The mass is after all addressed to God and not the people so facing the rising sun makes more sense

altars were built differerently before and after this changed. If the church is not perfectly facing East, the alter is called the Liturgical East which is a term I never thought I'd learn but here we are.

I think you said it best yourself:

To be fair I was calling it that for dramatic effect because this blog is 50% info and 50% The Bit so you know, got to keep the people fed

The pope did call it a 'schismic act' which was really just to get the point across but yes, you're totally right. they'd just tear off from the church entirely but until this point they still have some things that were approved by the church (but mainly to try and close the gap, but that's another story)

I don't think they want to openly turn away from the pope (I mean, they do but they don't want to be separate as an entity ). There are a lot of sections that tore off from the Society and some of them ARE sedevacantists (although I'm not sure that's still applicable after the death of Pope Francis) so those are more schismic than the original Society. Not really a Schism

Yeah, in a literal sense it is, because the name protestants has been used for several types of groups that reject the reformations of the church (we're talking as early as 14th century but mostly 16th and later) so if your dad likes to be technically correct, yes. However it needs to be said that Protestants are considered a certain 'stream' within Christianity who form a more cohesive group and follow certain teachings (even though generally they take instruction from scripture only) and in that sense The Society would indeed never consider themselves protestants and Protestants wouldn't consider them part of their branch.