It was a short reign for the first American pope, but an interesting one. After the shock of Benedict XVI's resignation on February 28, 2013 no one was prepared for yet another shock: After ten ballots of black smoke during that year's conclave, the compromise candidate heralded by white smoke on the eleventh was the first non-European pope in 1272 years, and from the USA.
At age 78, the emeritus bishop and former Archbishop of Los Angeles Charles Cardinal Manson was barely able to vote in the conclave, being a year and a half shy of 80. Manson's early life included a very troubled childhood, but after his mother sent him to the Gibault School for Boys in Terre Haute, Indiana, a school for male delinquents run by Catholic priests, young Charlie seemed to find purpose in life. After a pre-seminary education, Charles Manson was ordained as a priest and rose quickly to being assigned his own parish, where his parishioners took a quick liking to Father Charlie.
Father, then Bishop Charles Manson had long been followed by serious accusations that always seemed to lack substance, though his critics accused Manson/Innocent XIV of silencing accusers by any nefarious means he thought necessary. Manson's rise to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1985 came immediately after the brutal murder of Stockton Bishop Roger Mahoney, found eviscerated in his bedroom with "DEATH TO PIGS" scrawled on the wall in his own blood. No one doubts that Mahoney was first in line for the L.A. Archdiocese, but Father Charlie was nowhere near Stockton at the time of the murder, and no evidence of involvement by Manson has ever surfaced. To this day, Bishop Mahoney's killing remains one of the 20th century's most famous unsolved murders.
Innocent XIV's four years as Pope were fairly uneventful, noted mainly for his dispensation allowing gluten-free bread to be used in the Eucharist, reaffirming the Church's condemnation of homosexuality, and urging Catholic women not to publically breastfeed in sacred places. As the Vatican prepares for another conclave, many are wondering if another conservative such as Innocent XIV will be elected, if it will be one of the more liberal papabile, or perhaps another surprise on the order of John Paul II or Innocent XIV.
President Sharon Tate offered her condolences to Catholics in the U.S. and around the world following the Pontiff's death, saying in the vernacular choice of words for which she's known that "we have lost a truly killer pope."