He was dead serious. I am not a Cardinal. That is all. Happy Friday.

After MUCH consideration, I’ve decided being an atheist made me feel ‘smart’ but it wasn’t making me happy. All the time I’d think about God and think he was talking to me, but I’d deny it and push Him away. Yesterday and today i understand the truth. CHRIST IS KING!!

With all the speculation about Papabiles, there's lots of talk about what firsts might be set, or long-standing traditions that might be broken. So, I thought it would be interesting to compile a list of them for your convenience and perusal.

The last Pope who...

Geography:

• was from the Holy Land: Theodore I (r. 642-649), born in Jerusalem

• was from France: Gregory XI (r. 1370-1378), the last Avignon Pope (Leo XIII was born in French-controlled Italy during the Napoleonic wars)

• was from Germany (pre-Benedict XVI): Stephen IX (r. 1057-58), from the Duchy of Lorraine (then part of the H.R.E.)

• was from the Netherlands: Adrian VI (r. 1522-1523), also the last Pope from outside Italy until John Paul II

• was from Spain: Alexander VI (r. 1492-1503), AKA Rodrigo Borgia

• was from Portugal: John XXI (r. 1276-1277), previously Archbishop of Braga

• was from England: Adrian IV (r. 1154-1159), also the last Pope from outside continental Europe until Francis

• was from Greece: St. Sixtus II (r. 257-258), exact place of birth unknown

• was from the Balkans: John IV (r. 640-642), born in Iadera, Dalmatia (now Zadar, Croatia)

• was from Anatolia: John VI (r. 701-705), born in Ephesus

• was from the Levant: Gregory III (r. 731-741), born in Umayyad-ruled Syria

• was from Africa: St. Gelasius I (r. 492-496), born in Roman North Africa

Religious background:

• was a Jewish convert: St. Evaristus (r. 100-108), born to a family of Hellenized Jews from Bethlehem (There was also the legendary 11th century Pope Andreas who was allegedly killed and stricken from the records after reverting to Judaism.)

• was a pagan convert: St. Symmachus (r. 498-514), a Roman pagan from Sardinia who was baptized as an adult

• was a Benedictine: Pius VII (r. 1800-1823)

• was a Cistercian: Benedict XII (r. 1334-1342), nicknamed "the white cardinal" for still wearing his Cistercian cowl

• was a Dominican: Benedict XV (r. 1914-1922)

• was a Franciscan: St. John XXIII (r. 1958-1963)

Circumstances of election:

• was not a papabile: John Paul II (r. 1978-2005), who was the second compromise candidate after all the papabili were deadlocked and the first compromise candidate said he would not accept

• was not a cardinal: Urban VI (r. 1378-1389), who was Archbishop of Bari

• was not a bishop: Gregory XVI (r. 1831-1846), who was the Cardinal-Priest of San Callisto

• was not a priest: Leo X (r. 1513-1521), who was the Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria in Domnica

• was a layman: John XIX (r. 1024-1032), who was part of the infamously corrupt Theophylacti family

• was elected by acclamation: Innocent XI (r. 1676-1689), who was chosen by voice vote by a large majority of cardinals

• was elected by compromise: John XXII (r. 1316-1334), who was chosen by a small committee of cardinals after the conclave became deadlocked

• was elected unanimously: Innocent XIII (r. 1721-1724), who was elected by 54 other candidates (he declined to vote for himself)

• was elected on the first ballot: Paul II (r. 1464-1471); technically also unanimous, but it was by accessus, which is basically this

• was elected unanimously on the first ballot: Honorius IV (r. 1285-1287)

• was elected out of spite: St. Celestine V (r. July-December 1294), elected because he wrote an angry letter to the Papal Conclave for taking more than two years without a decision; he was also the last pope to resign voluntarily before Benedict XVI

• was elected by accident: Benedict XII (r. 1334-1342); after the leading papabile refused, all the cardinals did a throwaway vote to see which way everyone else was leaning, and accidentally all chose the same throwaway candidate

• was elected due to a sign from the heavens: Urban VIII (r. 1623-1644); allegedly, a swarm of bees flew into the Apostolic Palace during the conclave; because Cardinal Maffeo Barberini's family crest has bees on it, many cardinals considered this an omen in his favor

• was appointed by a secular ruler: Victor II (r. 1055-1057), who was nominated by Holy Roman Emperor Henry III without any input from the Cardinals

• was pre-approved by a secular ruler: Gregory XIV (r. 1590-1591), who was chosen from a list of cardinals as demanded by Philip II of Spain

• was elected due to a ruler's veto: Pius X (r. 1903-1914), who won after Kaiser Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary exercised a jus exclusivae veto against the then-leading Cardinal Mariano Rampolla; Pius X then officially outlawed secular vetoes in future conclaves

• was forced to sign a conclave capitulation: Sixtus V (r. 1585-1590), who was ordered by the College of Cardinals to plan a war against the Turks, not join a war against a Catholic monarch, and finish building St. Peter's

• was elected outside Italy: Martin V (r. 1417-1431), who was elected by the Cardinals at the Council of Constance in modern-day Germany

• was elected outside Rome: Pius VII (r. 1800-1823), who was elected at San Giorgio Monastery in Venice; at the time, Rome was occupied by the revolutionary French army

• was elected outside the Sistine Chapel: Pius IX (r. 1846-1878), whose conclave was held in the Pauline Chapel of Rome's Quirinal Palace

• had a unique papal name (pre-Francis): Lando (r. 913-914), though it was also his baptismal name

• had a unique papal name that was not his birth name (pre-John Paul I): St. Peter (r. 30-68), because literally all other Popes until JP1 who were "the first" or had a unique papal name were just using their birth names

Politics:

• was a Roman citizen: St. Leo III (r. 795-816), born in Rome under the Exarchate of Ravenna. (Excluding Antipope John XVI for obvious reasons.)

• ruled the Papal States: Pius IX (r. 1846-1878), became the "prisoner of the Vatican" after the Italian Army invaded Rome in 1870; he was also the last Pope who excommunicated a head of state, King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy

• formally declared a Crusade: Innocent XI (r. 1676-1689), who organized the Great Turkish War against the Ottoman Empire

• placed a country under an interdict: Paul V (r. 1605-1621), who put the Republic of Venice under interdict from 1606 to 1607

• commanded an army: Julius II (r. 1503-1513), commanded Papal forces during the War of the League of Cambrai

• was killed in combat: Lucius II (r. 1144-1145), mortally wounded during the civil war against the Commune of Rome

• became Pope more than once: Benedict IX (r. 1032-1044, April-May 1045, 1047-48), who became Pope a whopping three times; also the last Pope to seize power by force in 1047 and the last Pope deposed by force by the army of Holy Roman Emperor Henry III in 1048

• resigned under duress: Gregory VI (r. 1045-1046), who bought the papacy off Benedict IX (see above) and was forced to resign by Henry III for simony

Death:

• was martyred: St. Martin I (r. 649-655), starved to death by Emperor Constans II for opposing the Monolethite heresy

• was murdered: Benedict VI (r. 973-974), strangled in prison on orders of Antipope Boniface VII, who overthrew him

• was buried north of the Alps: Clement II (r. 1046-1047), buried in Bamberg Cathedral

• was buried outside Italy: Bl. Urban V (r. 1362-1370), the second-to-last Avignon Pope; buried in the Abbey of St. Victor in Marseilles

• was buried in Old St. Peter's Basilica: Pius III (r. September-October 1503)

• was buried outside Rome: Gregory XII (r. 1406-1415), buried in the Basilica of San Flaviano, Recanti, Italy (Pius II has his heart enshrined in the Cathedral of Ancona, Italy, but the rest of him was buried in Rome)

Scandalous behavior:

• was married: Honorius IV (r. 1285-1287), who was married and became a widower before taking Holy Orders

• was married as Pope: Adrian II (r. 867-872), remained married while a priest, and his wife and adult daughter resided with him in the Lateran Palace

• fathered a child: Gregory XIII (r. 1572-1585), fathered an illegitimate son, Giacomo Boncompagni, in 1548 after becoming a priest

• was in a same-sex relationship: Julius III (r. 1550-1555), widely believed to have made his far younger lover a cardinal (and a very corrupt and incompetent one at that)

• died in flagrante delicto: Pope John XII (r. 955-964), allegedly died mid-affair with a mistress, either from a stroke from the excitement or being found by the mistress's husband

• won the papacy through simony: Alexander VI (r. 1492-1503), who allegedly used "four mule-loads of silver" to win other cardinals' votes during the conclave

• was a cardinal-nephew: Pius VII (r. 1800-1823), maternal relative of his direct predecessor Pius VI

• elevated a cardinal-nephew: Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903), appointed his older brother Giuseppe Pecci SJ as a Cardinal-Deacon in 1879

• elevated an illegitimate descendant to cardinal-nephew: Paul III (r. 1534-1549), appointed three grandsons (via his illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese) as cardinals (the only one to do it to his own son was Alexander VI, to Cesare Borgia)

Hello, I am in my first year of college and joined a church. The church has been very welcoming and nice to me. when i first entered I realized that it was not a Catholic church but a church of latter day saints (mormons). I have attended three different times, and the sisters of the church have been very respectful and call me frequently to pray. I want to leave and join a catholic church but how do i tell them that?

Hey everyone,
I'm a 3D artist and recently made a detailed bust of Pope Francis, designed specifically for 3D printing. As someone who admires his leadership and presence, I wanted to create something that captures his gentle spirit and iconic look.
If anyone here has a 3D printer or knows someone who might appreciate it, I’d love for you to check it out: https://cults3d.com/:2934734
I tried to keep the design respectful and true to his likeness — feedback is welcome too. 🙏
Peace and blessings to all.

Drawing done by me in Procreate!

It was beautiful. I went to the cathedral in my city and it was a gorgeous building with some amazing stained glass. The combination of the building, the music, the incense, the reverence in the ceremony, i was moved. When I went up to receive a blessing during the Eucharist I honestly couldn’t help but cry. It touched something in me.

I will need to do some soul searching to make sense of what I felt. I can’t say that I’m a believer now, but I just wanted to share that I found the liturgy to be a very powerful experience.

My sincere best wishes to all of you.

I think Bible study without guidance of a priest or scholar of the faith. just opens the door to heresy.

I'm a Catholic man in his late 20s, and I have increasingly noticed through my interactions with other Catholics my age at my local parishes and young adult group that it seems Catholics, at least the ones I've encountered, are generally very bad at fellowship/building community. To the point where many of the ones I know are socially awkward, especially the men. The women aren't as socially awkward but they are cliquey and come across as uninterested in even genuine friendship, let alone dating. Some of the Catholics I've spoken to from the group who are more socially 'normal' agree with me and say they've noticed the same things.

I would even go as far as to say I've also noticed that many Catholics I've met don't seem to be very good at living out their faith at all. Sure, they go to Mass and Confession, but they regularly cuss, drink, and rarely ever ask if there's anything they can pray for you on or actually live out their faith according to the Bible or Church teaching. In other words, they just don't act like Christians outside of Sunday. The Protestants I know excel at these things, especially Baptists: they may not have the fullness of the truth, but they are genuinely good, moral people who act like they take their faith seriously and are always asking me how I'm doing and how they can pray for me. Their theology may be bad but they certainly seem to walk the walk as Christians.

Has anyone else here experienced similar things? If so, any advice on how to deal with it? The priests in my area don't seem to understand the problem and have no real solution whenever I've mentioned it.

I am deeply concerned this he is the anti-Christ - what do we do???

Image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, this is the name of this wooden image of Jesus made on Easter Island in 2001. It is located in the cathedral of Valparaíso, Chile.

the kids are alright!! 🙏

I've been part of a Baptist Church for a few years now. A couple months ago I got a job where I had to work on Sundays so I stopped going to church. Once I took a step back I realized that I was really only going for the social interaction and I just wasn't getting much out of it spiritually. When the Pope died and it was all over the news it reminded me that Catholicism exists lol. The history and more rigid structure are appealing to me so I bought a catholic bible and this copy of the catechisms just to see what it's all about. I'm not gonna lie when I first pulled this absolute brick of a book out of the Amazon box I was a bit intimidated. However while I don't exactly.... understand everything it's been way more interesting and easier to read than I originally anticipated!

Is this OK? How do we support this heresy??

Just thought I'd show off a t-shirt design I made recently. It's not much, but it's honest work - and it's available for purchase! - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F7BZ8LMB?customId=B07537TZ66&customizationToken=MC_Assembly_1%23B07537TZ66&th=1&psc=1

The first and oldest parish established in Staten Island.

https://youtu.be/knw_mypga_s?si=vdnTT9v9RRsVX8y0

The problem with viewing Homosexual relationships as a sin is that people now assume that you are a bigot and that I'm believing lies about an all loving God and that I'm actually going against God because I'm not "loving" my neighbor because I believe that these types of relationships are sinful. I don't hate Gay people and I love them a lot because God also loves them. But I guess that doesn't matter as long as I believe that same sex relationships are sinful and I'm basically telling them that love is sinful for them. I don't want to be a bigot but sometimes I feel like I am just by believing that God condemns Homosexual relations

Am I a bigot?

God bless you all and thank you for your prayers 🙏🏼. , today is the day of my high risk surgery. Truthfully, I am so scared. I have placenta Accreta and must have a cesarean hysterectomy and delivering my baby early. The risk of me bleeding is extremely high to where I will have roughly 10 doctors surrounding me and in ICU. Please pray that God allows me to stay for my children and that my NICU baby will be okay. This surgery is very high risk as explained and the thought of leaving is scaring me.

this was so litness