31 Comments
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Richard Budd's avatar

I actually offered Pope Francis a zuchetto and he gave me the one off his head!

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Michael Gorman's avatar

Speaking of name-checking the Pope and such, I was surprised when I first heard the phrase "the magisterium of Pope Francis." Did anyone ever talk about "the magisterium of Pope Benedict" or "the magisterium of Pope John Paul"?

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Grace B's avatar

Never that I recall.

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ALT's avatar

I do not recall ever hearing it either, so I searched for "Magisterium Pope Benedict". The few hits were from after he resigned, with the exception of a lecture from 2008, given for a congress on "The Heritage of the Magisterium of Pius XII and the Second Vatican Council" *by* Pope Benedict.

I'm guessing it's an old scholarly phrase trotted out to try to give weight to airplane interviews and cherry-picked quotes and paraphrases, not unlike "the spirit of Vatican 2".

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Michael Gorman's avatar

I had worried that it was intended to highlight the personal special uniqueness of Pope Francis's teaching, underplaying the idea that the Pope's main teaching job is handing on what he'd received.

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ALT's avatar

Possibly the original purpose was to distinguish Extraordinary from Ordinary Magisterium. But it seemed to be frequently used for Pope Francis' mere opinions.

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KP's avatar

I rolled my eyes when that phrase started to make the rounds. It seemed to come from some media figures who were genuinely enamoured with Francis and applied it in an unhinged fan girl way on social media.

Hell hath no fury like a superfangirl posse on Twitter or Instagram crossed.

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Grace B's avatar

I also cringed at the incessant name-checking of Pope Francis. It was SO weird and performative and I always hated it.

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ALT's avatar

I could never tell whether they were trying to make me like him, or trying to make him like them, or trying to signal that they'd behave as desired, or trying to make something approaching a pop culture reference so that they'd seem more relevant.

I appreciate none of those things.

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Grace B's avatar

I KNOW!!!! I had all those same questions as well. It was WEIRD. It made sense when Ed said it was because they were afraid.

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Jack's avatar

I think Ed is right. While I do not know any Chicago priests, I have friends from Chicago who say that priests there live with a similar sort of fear of their ordinary and feel they have to make reference to the cardinal in a positive way.

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Grace B's avatar

I have heard similar things regarding that individual.

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Jack's avatar

Sorry, my point with that was that while I agree that the cardinals feel a certain freedom at the same time, as can be seen by a tantrum about cardinals turning their back on the deceased pope, certain prelates may still be employing scare tactics to bully their brothers. I hope the other cardinals are willing to hold their ground and not be bullied into voting for someone they do not want.

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Evan Cowie's avatar

Once again, thank you all for all of the work you're doing! JD, I hope the weights help clear the cough out, and I hope you both have a good drink, a good smoke, and a good night's sleep.

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Michael Blissenbach's avatar

It seems to me that DayQuil and NyQuil would do a better job than any of those other remedies.

That, hot tea, hot soup, blood orange juice, and sleep.

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Brett B.'s avatar

I really want to find out if the Swiss Guard “hat trick” worked.

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Christopher E.'s avatar

I wonder if the sense of urgency the cardinals feel in the conclave is at least in part a result of the culture of constant information flow and instant communication that has resulted from modern technology. Not only are the cardinals aware of the fast pace at which news is reported globally, but simply being forced to separate from their phones and other electronics could make them feel anxious to get out of the isolated conclave (shockingly isolated for today's world) and back to the comfort of having the world at their fingertips again.

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ALT's avatar

Future conclaves will have a 9 day "tech detox" before they begin...

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Aaron Babbidge's avatar

Just listened to the intro so far but as a PT I’m so glad JD is still finding time to get a nice pump in the gym. Way to go JD. Just like Jesus says some demons can only be driven out by prayer and fasting, I like to say (hopefully this isn’t going too far) that some “demons” can only be driven out by sweat and iron.

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benh's avatar

Incredible discussion. Thank you.

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Andrea's avatar

"The Pillar team will go live on Substack soon after the papal election. Don’t miss it!"

Yes, sure, but what, where, how?

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Annie's avatar

I noticed that Kate did a “test” of a live Substack broadcast- it came up in my notifications! I also noticed for the very first time that someone else I follow on here did a livestream on Substack yesterday, and I received an email about it.

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Andrea's avatar

Hhhmmm... What notification should I activate?

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Annie's avatar

I just checked it out- there’s a subset of notifications for “live” events and it seems like they’re all set to on by default (at least mine are, I’ve never checked them before)

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Katie FWSB's avatar

"Why can't you just stay in bed and drink whiskey like normal people?"

Bless.

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Michael Blissenbach's avatar

Man JD, you sound like Kermit the Frog in this episode, you’re sick as a dog!

Please take care of yourself over there!

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Nicole's avatar

St. Florian-loving, fire-truck-expert little boys the world over want that Vatican fire service hat.

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Philip's avatar

The last boomer conclave: God be praised.

Gen X-ers will be skipped over, in keeping with tradition, and Millennials will rise to their proper place of power.

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Sue Korlan's avatar

Since boomers were born between 1946 and 1964, there will probably be lots of boomers at the next conclave also. It's the silent generation for whom this is probably their last conclave.

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RDB's avatar

I think the constant reference to our "Dear Leader Francis," is more about Pope Francis than to the modern papacy. We should see much of that drift away now that we are no longer governed/led by an Argentinian Jesuit.

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John Rhatigan's avatar

Is that what I will hihi oui to oh my other is uhh high heels 😂 ish hi Woohoo hhave hoi i

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