DBWI: Both Popes Have Resigned, But Will the Schism End?

Popes John XXV and Benedict XVI stepped down today, in a joint ceremony in Rome. I can't help but think that the media is being too effusive about the imagery of the ceremony -- the hard part comes next.

Who will be the new Pope, and can he cement the work of his predecessors?

Speaking as someone who grew in the First Vatican Church's camp, I'm more than a little ambivalent about accepting some of the reformist doctrines being grandfathered into the reunified church, but I'm mostly worried about future gridlock. How well will both wings be able to handle the challenges of the 21st Century, like rising secularism in the West and HTLV-III in Africa, if they're worried about stepping on each other's theological toes?
 
Who cares? As long as European women are treated as unpeople and free thinking is met with harassment, censorship, or worse, I don't give a damn.
 

whitecrow

Banned
Nothing will come of this. The efforts to merge the European Catholic Church with the Catholic Exiles Church is nothing more than a ploy by the Fascists to regain some of their waning world influence. The next Pope will not be a German, but the Nazi party is not-so-subtely pushing for a well-known pro-Berlin Portugese bishop to be selected as the next Pope. I can only hope that the former Exhiled members of the New Catholic Council will not be bribed by the Huns.

OOC: since the OP did not explain how the modern Catholic Church split, I stipulate that it occurred after a Nazi victory with certain elements of the Catholic hierarchy refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the Vatican which has to a degree been subverted by the fascist. Thus the Catholic Exiles Church is formed. Pope John XXV headed the Exile Church & Benedict XVI the "original" one. Now there is an attempt to heal the rift and merge back the 2 churches.
 
Top