Does The Holy Spirit Really Pick The Pope?

Does the Holy Spirit REALLY Pick the Pope? 🤔 As a new conclave approaches, many Catholics ask: Is the Holy Spirit the one choosing the next pope? In this video, we unpack that belief by looking at Church history, and the words of Pope Benedict XVI himself.

Transcript

Does the Holy Spirit really pick the pope? No! Moving on. End the video. Let's unpack that a little bit Okay we have the conclave coming up and sometimes we can have this uh unfortunate uh overspiritualization of what might be happening here For example we we sometimes think that the Holy Spirit somehow rests upon a certain cardinal and the Holy Spirit and solely the Holy Spirit alone is the one that sets this guy apart to be our next holy father Um but that thinking has a problem because it does not explain how come we've had some really bad popes in the history of the Catholic Church And there's no denying that we've had some really bad popes in the history of the church For example Pope John the 12th Some say he was elected pope at 18 He was morally corrupt He was accused of being a blasphemer murder adulterer and invoking pagan gods Pope Benedict the 9th He is accused of selling the papacy for a large sum of money He's accused by Pope Victor III of rapes murders and sodomy Pope Alexander V 6th fathered several children with mistresses and is accused of bribery and corruption So go back to the question does the Holy Spirit really pick the pope well this is what Pope Benedict the 16th said I would not say so in the sense that the Holy Spirit picks out the pope I would say that the spirit does not exactly take control of the affair but rather like a good educator as it were leaves us much space much freedom without entirely abandoning us Thus the spirit's role should be understood in a much more elastic sense not that he dictates the candidate for whom one must vote Probably the only assurance he offers is that the thing cannot be totally ruined There are too many contrary instances of popes the Holy Spirit obviously would not have picked Interesting insight from Pope Benedict the 16th And what does that mean for us while it means that we can trust that whatever happens at the next conclave has not been completely abandoned by God But we can more so pray that the college of cardinals is inspired and is docile to the Holy Spirit That it doesn't become this political thing behind the walls of the cyine chapel That the Holy Spirit takes control of their emotions and their intellects and leads and guides their will and conforms them to what God truly desires for his church Going back to his question is it possible that a pope could be elected that isn't the best pope for the time right now yes that's possible because it has happened in the history of the church But it doesn't mean that God has abandoned his church You know we've had many popes that have been lived immoral lives in the history of the church But what would be worse than a pope who has lived an immoral life a pope that leads and teaches in such a way that leads people away from the one true faith The faith that Jesus Christ and his apostles have handed on to us That would be worse than an immoral pope Why well if a pope has just lived a bad life prior or even as pope it more or less just affects him I mean yes sin affects everyone but he can also repent and amend his life But when a pope leads in such a way that it confuses the faith or allows pastoral practices that leads away from the one true faith this harms the salvation of other people So that would be worse than what we've had in the past of immoral popes in history So let's pray for the cardinals And I just don't say like let's just pray for them and just move on to the next video We have a responsibility as Catholics to pray for this conclave because it really does matter The church really is divided And so let's pray for the cardinals that they would be inspired by the Holy Spirit to pick a holy father a man who is truly holy and who has the ability to preserve protect and transmit the unchanging truths of the Catholic faith as handed on to us from Jesus Christ and the apostles You know that's my shopping list And if I could add one more maybe a pope that could bring down

inflation But let's pray This is a critical time of history Together we can set the world ablaze with Christ's love