No More Cool Popes, PLEASE!

Tired of Popes trying to be the “cool dad”? In this episode, I rant (lovingly) about why the Church needs a coach, not a cruise director.

Transcript

Okay. So, today is uh Thursday, May the 8th, 2025. It's about 11 close to 11:15 a.m. Eastern time. And I only give you all that to let you know or so you know that we are in the middle of a papal conclave because uh Pope Francis died recently. God rest his soul. And now we're looking for a new pope. (00:22) And I got to tell you, I just this is uh I've had a few popes in my lifetime, but I this is the first time where I'm like, you know what? I I don't know about you, but I I don't want a cool pope. I don't want a cool dad, right? I don't want someone who's going to come in there and be like, "Oh, look, I'm really cool. (00:37) " And like, "Oh, hey, I want all the kids to like me." It's like, look, what we need, what we want is a father. We want a a father who's like a real father. You know what I'm saying? It's like when you grew up and your father wasn't around or if your father treated you like garbage or your father wasn't there for you or emotionally or whatever it was. (00:55) It's not throwing blame around. But I don't want that kind of father again. I don't want the kind of father who's just going to be like off on his own adventures doing his own kind of thing and trying to make everybody happy and and be the cool dad. by the cool dad. I mean, the the the pope who wants to make everybody happy, who's going to be like, "Oh, well, we don't have to believe in that uh Sunday Sy thing or uh you know, we don't we don't believe in uh you know, you can't use artificial contraception stuff. You (01:22) can do whatever you want." It's like, no, no, no, no. I want um I want a dad who just, you know, he's he's he's strong. He's full of love, but he's also strong, and he says, "Hey, these are the rules. This is what we're going to do. this is how we live and this is how we work together as a family. Okay. I kind of want a pope. (01:43) I I don't want to hear after a pope dies how much the world loved him. I don't want to hear things like, "Oh, we the whole world just loved so and so or Pope Francis or John the 23rd or oh, Pope John Paul II, the whole world just loved him." It's like, you must have been doing something wrong if the whole world loves you. (02:00) And from a Catholic perspective, it's like it kind of the world doesn't want you to be like Catholic. We already know that. Look around you. Look in the world how much they, you know, persecute Catholics and they still hate Catholics and people don't want you to be Catholic. So the last thing you want is a pope who everyone says, "Oh, what a wonderful pope he was. He was so great. (02:19) We all loved him. He was so humble." I I don't want that. I don't know about you. I just I I You want someone who said, "You know what? We kind of hated that guy. he stood for this and that and he he wouldn't budge and he wouldn't he wouldn't change on anything like that. It's like I want someone who stands for something. (02:38) I want someone who says, you know, we're Catholic. This is what being Catholic is. This is what it means and and I'm sticking to that one instead of like, you know, it's like it's like if your father throws you under the bus. It's like, you know what, we as a family, we stand for we always eat dinner at uh 6:00. Okay, dumb example, but we always eat dinner at six o'clock. (02:58) Well, okay, the phone rings. We answer the phone. Okay, your phone your your friends come. Okay, that's okay. And next thing you know, dad's rules or dad's traditions and dad's uh way of of leading the family are all thrown out the window, right? I I don't want that. I don't know about you. It's just I kind of peeve of mine. (03:15) I am and I've said it before. I I I see being Catholic is like being team Catholic, right? If you're if you're on the team, you you stand for something. You practice. you work really hard, you want to win, you are uh, you know, you're the number one team, right? Team Catholic. And I want a coach of that team, the Pope. (03:38) Okay? Who encourages me, who says, you know, do better. Practice. Haha. Practice your faith. Huh? Get it? See what I did there? But if you think about a coach of any sports team, can you imagine if he shows up and says, "Well, I don't know. You guys don't have to be practice. you know, let let's cut let's cut practice short. (03:57) Let's go get some ice cream or you don't have to work on those drills or you don't have to, you know, practice your throws or anything like that. Can you imagine a sports movie? I mean, think about some of the greatest sports movies ever where they've got this great coach and it's usually this rag tag team and and this coach comes in and he, you know, he teaches them hard work and ethics and morals and how to be good people in on the field and off the field and they work really hard and they sweat and they get to the big game and it's down to the (04:24) last few seconds and they win the big game, right? Those are the kind of sports movies we go to and love. Can you imagine if you it was a movie about team Catholic and the pope who's the coach comes in and and uh you know the whole movie is about how he comes across all these rag tag people who are just they're they're dying for some leadership. They're dying to be led. (04:45) They're dying to be something. They're dying to, you know, just be validated in everything they they think and and want to be. And the coach comes in, he's like, "Yeah, we're not going to practice today. I don't I don't think so." you know, our team has always been, you know, last. I don't I don't see any reason to change all that. (05:04) So, we're not going to pract I'm going to sit over here and have a beer and watch you guys. If you want to practice, great. If you want to just um sit there and play on your phones, that's that's great, too. And then as the movie goes on, you get to the somehow they they make it to I don't know, the big game, maybe a game, right? And and the whole game it's like no one's cheering for him and the coach is on the sidelines, you know, maybe he's playing with his phone, he doesn't really care. (05:27) and people come off the field like, "Yeah, whatever." And it's not about winning or losing. It's how you play the game. Or it, you know, you're still good people if you if you win or lose. And who who would go see a movie like that? No one wants to see a movie like that. So, I I want a I want a pope. (05:42) I want a coach who comes in and says, "Work really hard. Here's what we believe in. Here's what we stand for. We're going to fight for this to the very bitter end. We're going to fight for every inch of ground." That's that's the kind of pope I'm looking for. So, we'll we'll see what happens. But yeah, I want I want I want a pope who makes you you you're proud to be on the team. (06:02) I don't want a pope sitting there saying, "Oh, you you Catholics, you have too many babies. You're like, oh, you're breeding like rabbits." Like what? Or, you know, telling you that, oh, you know, the traditional family, men, women, children, that's that's so outdated and it's just it's just, oh, we can't have that, right? It's like, I don't want to hear that. (06:19) I don't I don't want that from a pope. I want a pope who's who makes me have to work to be better. Um, yeah. No, I'm just looking through my notes here. It's like I I I want a father who stands for what the church has always taught and stood for and and not be a wimp who bends every time the wind blows. Like if the winds of the world are like, "Oh, you should allow these different kind of relationships and marriages and you should allow women to be in the priesthood. (06:49) You should do this and do that." It's like, stop bending. Just stand straight for goodness sakes. And um yeah, I want I want I want a pope who stands for something. I want a pope who stands for being Catholic the way Catholics have always been Catholics up until I don't know the last 60 years since Vatican 2 I guess where where you know once that happened that event I I still can't believe that 60 years later people are still like well if the council was really interpreted the right way or if the council was really implemented the right way. (07:19) Dude, after 60 years, if this thing ain't working, it's not working. It's not going to work. So, I'm getting tired of all these people are coming in. It's like, "Oh, by the fruits of Vatican 2 and the spirit of Vatican 2, I've had enough of that garbage. Quit playing games with us." Like, I don't know. (07:38) I I I don't want a pope who encourages me to adapt to the modern world. Have you seen the modern world? Have you looked around at all at the state of the world today? I mean, just the craziness and the stuff, you know, there there's like practically fighting in the streets. There's people fighting each other. (07:53) There's people who are, you know, you know, promiscuity and just whatever they want and whatever they want. It's like I I don't if you look at the world today in the modern world and say, "Oh, I wish the church was more like that." I don't know what to tell you, dude. You've you've that's that's crazy stuff. It's like, why would you want Why would you want your church to be like the modern world? like it it just I don't know. (08:17) It doesn't doesn't make any sense. I suppose at at the end of the day when this conclave is over, I'm looking for a pope who's going to be a great father in a great church. A lot of people didn't have good fathers and a lot of people today don't even have fathers at all. And we don't want to we don't want to emulate that. (08:37) So, we want a good father who's there who's leading his family to heaven. That's what good fathers do. That's what a good pope does. You know, they call the pope papa, papa, daddy. Jesus called um God his father, aba, daddy, right? We're we're like little kids who are looking to be led. (08:55) We're little kids who are looking for someone to show us what's right and to encourage us in what's right and to keep doing what's right. And other than that, you just you're you're kind of wasting us, wasting our time. So, I don't know. We may have a pope by the end of today. Who knows? But regardless, you know, whatever pope we get, we get. (09:14) But it shouldn't stop you from being the best Catholic you can be based on what the church has always taught. Don't fall for this modern stuff. Don't fall for, oh, anything goes and all that. Because once everything goes, man, you're on that wide road to hell. I don't know what to tell you. Why would you want to take the wide road when you could take the the narrow road? It's harder, but it's going to get you where you want to go. So, keep praying. (09:33) and keep praying that we get a good pope, uh, an Orthodox pope, a holy pope, a pope who's a good father and a good coach, because if you're on team Catholic, you want to be number one, you know, unless I don't know, unless I'm I'm not sure of who my audience is at all, but who gets on a sports team of any kind and doesn't want to be the best or be number one or be or or win, right? It's like, do you get on why do you get on a on a team to be like, well, let's I hope we're last. (10:02) Uh, oh, we're as good as anybody else or or they're as good as we are. So, it doesn't really matter. What's the point, right? What's the point? So, key, please keep praying for a good pope, a good father, a good coach, someone who's going to help us get us into heaven and who's going to encourage us to get to heaven. (10:20) And like I said, one of the first big signs if the world hates them and they're all snaring at him. And if every major newspaper just says, "Oh, this pope's going to be a disaster." It's probably the pope you want. So, hopefully we get the pope we want. We hope we get the uh pope we need and please God, not the pope we deserve. All right."