Yet another book about who will follow Pope Francis examines a church in transition

The view from outside St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. Wikipedia Commons photo.

(REVIEW) Who will be the next pope? That seems to be the preoccupation these days among some segment of Catholics. It is, at least, among religious publishers.

While 83-year-old Pope Francis is in good health, that hasn’t stopped speculation over who will come next.

After all, he is 83.

Earlier this summer, a book by Edward Pentin entitled The Next Pope: The Leading Cardinal Candidates was released to much fanfare. At the same time, another book — coincidentally with a similar title — also takes a looks at a similar issue. Instead of focusing on who will follow in the footsteps of Pope Francis, this book places the emphasis on what he will need to do. Think of it like a very long to-do memo for the next head of the Catholic church.

The book The Next Pope: The Office of Peter and a Church in Mission (Ignatius Press) is by George Weigel, a theologian and historian who is currently the senior fellow of Washington’s Ethics and Public Policy Center and a New York Times bestselling author of two dozen books. His most famous book, Witness to Hope, a biography of Pope John Paul II (later made a saint), came out in 1999.

While Pentin’s book looks into the men who could replace Francis, complete with detailed biographies of these potential candidates, Weigel’s book is different but equally compelling. Weigel’s main argument is that the next pontiff will likely have been a young man during the Second Vatican Council, which spanned between 1962-1965. In fact, the next pope will not have had anything to do with the Second Vatican Council, meaning he will have been shaped by it like no other man who has ever been elected to the position.

Therefore, Weigel writes, the next pope will have been shaped differently than Saint Pope John Paul II, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Francis. The man who replaces Francis will “be a transitional figure in a different way than his immediate predecessors. So it seems appropriate to ponder now what the church has learned during the pontificates of these three conciliar popes — and to suggest what the next pope might take from that learning.”

This book’s biggest strengths come from Weigel’s first-hand experiences with the last three aforementioned popes and his travels, giving him insight into the Catholic church’s 1.2 billion followers (40% of whom live in South America) that span the globe and the set of challenges the next pontiff will face into the third decade of the 21st century.

Weigel argues that the church is in transition — one of many he points to from history — and that the man that follows in Francis’ footsteps will have to deal with a number of questions. Weigel writes that the church “will be crossing into uncharted territory in the next pontificate.” He then poses two questions: what has the Holy Spirit been teaching a church that’s in transition and what qualities will be needed in the next leader of the world’s Roman Catholics?

One can’t understand the church’s future direction without first examining the Second Vatican Council. Also known as Vatican II, it formally opened under the pontificate of Pope John XXIII in October 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in December 1965. The fallout remains to this day a point of debate among Catholics across the doctrinal spectrum. Among the changes brought about by Vatican II, for instance, were stronger ecumenical efforts towards dialogue with other Christian denominations and Jews in the wake of World War II.

It also changed the day-to-day life of Catholics around the world. Most notably, the changes included the widespread use of local languages during Mass instead of Latin and for priests to celebrate versus populum (by facing the congregation rather than the alter). It is noteworthy that, of those who took part in the Second Vatican Council’s opening session, four would become popes: Giovanni Battista Montini, who on succeeding John XXIII took the name Pope Paul VI; Albino Luciani, the future John Paul I; Karol Wojtyła, who became John Paul II; and Joseph Ratzinger, a theological consultant at the time, who became Benedict XVI.

Weigel writes that the debate over whether Vatican II was “a wise idea or a foolish idea” can’t be answered until the end of this century. In the end, Weigel’s book is a great explainer of where the church has been and where it’s going. The point of this book isn’t to be controversial — although some may take it that way — but is ultimately meant as a guide to the papacy and the Vatican. He asserts that the next pope must focus on evangelization, despite the secular world we live in, and warns that the church should not function as a non-governmental organization. Instead, it should focus on the Gospels and what he calls “missionary energy.”

“But the Catholic church cannot think of itself as an NGO. When it does so, its evangelical arteries are hardened, even when it controls considerable financial resources and deploys a large bureaucratic infrastructure,” he writes. “The more tolerant sectors of postmodern Western culture are prepared to live with the Catholic church as an NGO, and in fact often push the church in that direction.”

In this version of The Next Pope, Weigel also warns that several other factors, such as the Vatican’s financial issues (including corruption within its walls) and the ongoing clergy sex-abuse scandal, need to be priorities of the next pope.

Weigel’s 141-page book, unlike Pentin’s version, does not focus on who among the hierarchy will take the job. Nonetheless, both books are worthy of being read. While Pentin puts forth a series of candidates, Weigel’s book is focused on the task at hand once the need arises for the College of Cardinals to elect the successor of Peter.

Clemente Lisi is a senior editor and regular contributor to Religion Unplugged. He is the former deputy head of news at the New York Daily News and teaches journalism at The King’s College in New York City. Follow him on Twitter @ClementeLisi.