Archbishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen Photo: @web_pastor

Catholics Not Represented in the 2025 Conclave

Following the «representative» criterion of Catholics for the 2025 Conclave, there is an overrepresentation of Cardinals from countries such as France (5), Spain (5), Argentina (4), Portugal (4), Canada (4), the United Kingdom (3), and Japan (2). The most recent data shows that the countries with the largest Catholic populations in the world are: 1) Brazil, 2) Mexico, 3) the Philippines, 4) the United States, 5) Italy, 6) Congo, and 7) Colombia.

Chinese Communist government takes advantage of Pope’s death to unilaterally impose new bishops

These appointments, proceeding so soon after the pope’s death, present an immediate and delicate test for the next pontiff. Will he continue Francis’s policy of cautious engagement with China, or draw a firmer line in defense of the Church’s independence? That decision could define the next chapter in Vatican-China relations.

For the first time an archbishop of Tehran, Iran, among the Pope’s electors

A Franciscan of Belgian origin, he received the cardinal’s red hat on 7 December during the last consistory. The Iranian Church is a ‘peripheral’ reality, a small flock that is ‘transparent’ in its faith. Criticism of those who harbour a ‘preconceived’ view of a nation rich in ‘contrasts’. The desire to train ‘local pastors’.