# The 2025 Papal Conclave **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 5, 2025, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913 "2025-05-05T17:40:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/201 "2025-05-08T20:27:10Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The cardinal understands that the center of the Roman Catholic Church “is not in the United States or the North Atlantic,” said Raúl E. Zegarra This has got me curious…if Catholicism is very active in Latin America and Southern & Eastern Europe, where would the “center of mass” (sorry) of the Roman Catholic Church be? Perhaps off the NE coast of Brazil?! ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/202 "2025-05-08T20:31:48Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > Xit from Laura Loomer: > > > WOKE MARXIST POPE > [@Miller](#): > > > [@DrDeth](#): > > > > The new Pope seems less liberal than the previous one > > In what way? The last pope was also against women priests, “gender identity,” and homosexuality. Ah yes…. **Breaking News:** _ **Pope Catholic.** _ He’s the head of the RCC. Not of the SBC and not of the UCC and not of the US Congress. And thus his church policy positions are not going to “map” neatly to a US-centric GOP/Dem or lib/con axis. Which won’t keep anyone from claiming stuff about it. OTH if it triggers Loomer that’s worth some entertainment, not gonna lie. > [@Miller](#): > > > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > > > they may be witnesses to history and they were. > > Were they, though? First US-born Pope, continuity of Popes who were Bishops in the Global South, pretty big international event. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/203 "2025-05-08T20:32:40Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Eh, when I was a kid we spent more time in one class watching the OJ trial than we did on middle school science. That seems much more pointless than maybe an hour to see the introduction of a new pope. That is also an egregious waste of school time, but it wouldn’t raise any concerns that the teacher is attempting to religiously indoctrinate my kid. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/204 "2025-05-08T20:34:00Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > **Breaking News:** _ **Pope Catholic** _ Stay tuned for shocking revelations about bears in the woods! ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/205 "2025-05-08T20:40:21Z")
one could have it up, and still teach whatever subject is in that hour. schools would have world events up in classrooms while teaching the proper subject. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/206 "2025-05-08T20:43:12Z")
It is a pet peeve of mine when teachers spend too much time having kids watch videos. I’m not too worried about a single event like this–it’s a once-in-a-generation event that’ll have significant cultural ripples, plus it’s super telegenic what with the smoke and the fancy robes and all–but if it were happening a lot, I’d be annoyed. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/207 "2025-05-08T20:47:22Z")
I wish the new Pope well. May he be true to Christ’s teachings and build upon his predecessor’s reforms. For the other pontiffs of his name: [Pope Leo - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Leo) ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/208 "2025-05-08T20:50:06Z")
Golda Meir was born in Ukraine (then part of Russian Empire), but moved to Milwaukee and eventually became a naturalized US Citizen. I can’t find if/when she gave up US citizenship. Janet Jagan was born in the US and became President of Guyana. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/209 "2025-05-08T20:52:49Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > but I’d be pretty pissed if my kid’s teacher was taking time out of algebra class to watch a religious ceremony. When I was in high school a long time ago, we watched the funeral of Dwight Eisenhower in lieu of class. No parents, including my own, complained. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/210 "2025-05-08T20:59:01Z")
" _That’s the Chicago Way._ " ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/211 "2025-05-08T21:24:12Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > First US-born Pope, continuity of Popes who were Bishops in the Global South, pretty big international event. Big for Catholics, for sure. Not sure about anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/212 "2025-05-08T21:29:50Z")
Well, as I commented to a colleague, I have the feeling that more than a few of the ones that decided to vote for Leo, did so to give a poke in the eye to the MAGA/Trump guys. Harder to ignore an American Pope regarding what Jesus would do about immigrants. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/213 "2025-05-08T21:34:21Z")
Eamon de Valera served as both Prime Minister, and later President of Ireland. > **[Éamon de Valera | Presidency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89amon_de_Valera#Presidency)** > > While Fianna Fáil remained popular among the electorate, 75-year-old de Valera had begun to be seen by the electorate as too old and out of touch to remain as head of government. At the urging of party officials, de Valera decided to retire from government and the Dáil and instead seek the presidency of Ireland. He won the 1959 presidential election on 17 June 1959 and resigned as Taoiseach, Leader of Fianna Fáil and a TD for Clare, six days later, handing over power to Seán Lemass. > De Valera wa... ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/214 "2025-05-08T21:43:28Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > and a cub fan… His brother says that’s not correct. He’s a White Sox fan, not Cubs. > **[Pope Leo XIV Is A Sox Fan, Despite The Early Hope From Cubs Fans, His Brother...](https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/05/08/pope-leo-xiv-is-a-sox-fan-despite-early-cub-fan-reports/)** > > The Cubs' Marquee Sports Network, citing ABC News, said the new pontiff supports the North Siders. But his brother said that is not true. > But later in the day, an ABC7 reporter caught up with one of the pope’s older brothers, John Prevost, and asked him to confirm the report. > > He said it wasn’t true. > > “He’s a Sox fan,” John Prevost told ABC7. > > The confusion may have stemmed from the fact that their mother, the late Mildred Prevost, was from the North Side, John Prevost said. Their late father, Louis, was a St. Louis Cardinals fan. But Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, chose the Sox. > > “Standing on his own two feet,” John Prevost said. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/215 "2025-05-08T21:45:03Z")
Another excellent Borowitz report: > **[Trump Offers to Sell New Pope $60 Bible](https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/trump-offers-to-sell-new-pope-60?publication_id=2337656&post_id=163161448&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=1n578h&triedRedirect=true)** > > “It’s gonna cost a lot more after EU tariffs," he told the pontiff. > Calling the Trump Bible “a very special Bible,” he added, “I know you have a lot of Bibles already at the Vatican, but none of them have parts written by Lee Greenwood.” > > Meanwhile, in his first official act as pope, Leo ordered a photo of JD Vance posted at the Vatican security desk. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/216 "2025-05-08T21:54:40Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > but I’d be pretty pissed if my kid’s teacher was taking time out of algebra class to watch a religious ceremony. 5 minutes if that to watch the announcement. I didn’t have them stare at the screen waiting for over an hour waiting for him. > [@Miller](#): > > Were they, though? Yes. As American Roman Catholics they saw the first American pope be announced. > [@asterion](#): > > That seems much more pointless than maybe an hour to see the introduction of a new pope. 5 minutes. I put it on the screen when the Protodeacon walked out. > [@Miller](#): > > but it wouldn’t raise any concerns that the teacher is attempting to religiously indoctrinate my kid. Are you accusing me of trying to indoctrinate my students? A) I’m Protestant B) My students are RC C) It was the 5 minutes of the announcement, not an entire period on Popism D) I presented it as, “If you are interested, here it is.” > [@rocking\_chair](#): > > one could have it up, and still teach whatever subject is in that hour. Exactly, like if, oh I don’t know, they are putting data into a spreadsheet. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/217 "2025-05-08T22:10:16Z")
I had it up in my classroom, too, though it is a Catholic school. The white smoke happened just about at the start of my C block class, the students heard it through the grapevine, and asked if I could put up the livestream in the background while they were working on their precalc quiz. > [@JRDelirious](#): > > He’s the head of the RCC. Not of the SBC and not of the UCC and not of the US Congress. And thus his church policy positions are not going to “map” neatly to a US-centric GOP/Dem or lib/con axis. Which won’t keep anyone from claiming stuff about it. Personally, I’d settle for the Church’s positions mapping to the Church’s positions. Like, for instance, it’s the Church’s position that gender is an immutable property of the soul… which, if examined logically, implies both the existence of transgender people, and that the proper treatment for transgender people is to allow them to change their bodies to match their souls, instead of trying to change their souls to match their bodies. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/218 "2025-05-08T22:18:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Personally, I’d settle for the Church’s positions mapping to the Church’s positions. Like, for instance, it’s the Church’s position that gender is an immutable property of the soul… which, if examined logically, implies both the existence of transgender people, and that the proper treatment for transgender people is to allow them to change their bodies to match their souls, instead of trying to change their souls to match their bodies. That’s one position the church could take. As a non Catholic, nonreligious person, I don’t have any particular opinions on the theology in and of itself, only on what outcomes the church holding that theology leads to. So it sounds great to me. I could imagine a different argument being made, that since God is perfect He would never put a soul of one gender in a body matching the other gender, and anyone who feels that He did do that in their case _must_ be mistaken. Of course, one could then ask why He would create a soul that _feels as if_ it was placed in a body with a gender that doesn’t match the soul’s own gender (especially as an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent being), but I’m sure someone could come up with a theologically convincing argument for either position. I can’t really engage with the question of which of the two positions is _correct_, since as a non Catholic and nonreligious person I think _neither_ is. I _can_ say that I’d prefer your position; but I can’t make any kind of guess as to whether the church would ever adopt that position or not. You may know more than me; is there any reason for optimism? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/219 "2025-05-08T22:20:54Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Are you accusing me of trying to indoctrinate my students? No, I’m explaining what my concern would be if my (hypothetical) kid came back from school and told me they spent math class watching the election of a religious leader. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > B) My students are RC If you’re teaching at a Catholic school, then my issue 100% does not apply to your situation. If you’re teaching in a public school, and it wasn’t relevant to whatever subject you were teaching, well… I don’t love it, but five minutes out of the lesson plan would probably not be worth starting a fight over with the district. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913/220 "2025-05-08T22:33:40Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > If you’re teaching in a public school, and it wasn’t relevant to whatever subject you were teaching, well… I don’t love it, Fortunately my principal who was in the room at the time did. Let me ask you this, you’re teaching math and the House is electing the President since no one got 270 EVs. You know the vote will take at most 10 minutes. Would you put it on the screen so that interested students could watch it while doing their independent work? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2025-papal-conclave/1017913.md?page=12)