Next Pope 2024 & The Conclave

De: Anura Guruge

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

As 2024 unwinds, it is hard to shrug off the feeling that a conclave can’t be that far away – if not this year, then soon afterwards. This book, with the ‘2024’ in the title, was specifically crafted for this coming conclave. It is a combo deal that deals with both ‘next pope’ spotting, and a conclave mechanics. It justifies and identifies the top 10 papabili (per the author’s much reasoned criteria), as well as assiduously detailing all of the conclave and balloting requirements, protocols, and nuances.
The author, Anura Guruge, has been an unrepentant ‘next pope’ junkie since 2008. He has done umpteen papabili posts online and maintained a number of ‘next pope’ Websites – most recently guruge.com/next-pope (which will serve as the online adjunct to THIS book). In his ‘Next Pope 2011’ book, as is the case here, he listed his top 10 papabili. And YES, Jorge Bergoglio (who went onto become Pope Francis) was on that list. He was the only one who had identified Bergoglio, in print, this early on. His was the only ‘next pope’ book that had him as a papabile. The media only started publicly talking of Bergoglio as a potential days ahead of the conclave. The author’s ‘expertise’/luck did not go unnoticed!
Yes, he is hoping that he gets it right again – but readily agrees that he could end up being very, very wrong in that he refuses to subscribe to some of the media favorites, e.g., Cardinals Luis Tagle or Pietro Parolin. Unlike others, he also does not believe in a shotgun approach – naming dozens of cardinals in the hope of getting it right. He is very methodical and disciplined in his approach, and he justifies the selections he made (and those that he just could not endorse).
This is his 3rd (or 4th) book on conclaves (not counting his ‘Next Pope 2011’ and the ‘Tale of their Names’). His 518-page ‘The Conclave’ (2020) is the definitive and encyclopedic guide to everything conclave related. In this book he is more circumspect when it comes to excruciating details (especially on the subject of laws), pre-conclave proceedings, historic data, statistics, and trivia. This book, nonetheless, is still comprehensive when it comes to how a conclave runs and the process for legitimately electing a new pope.
There is no question that this conclave will be different to any in the last 150 years. It will have the deeply divided and contentious feel of a Renaissance-era conclave. But, unlike some, the author does not believe that it will be long-drawn. He is fairly sure it will not get to the automatic ‘run-off’ stage. Again, he spells all of this out in this book. You need to speculate on votes, and the author likes doing that.
Yes, the papabili dynamics will, of course, change over time. Pope Francis can ensure that his successor will indeed be one of acolytes by holding another consistory (in 2024) in which he creates 20(+) cardinal electors. That will make a mockery of the current papabili list. The author appreciates all of this. He plans to update the eBook version as and when required. In addition, he intends to post updates at: guruge.com/next-pope.
There is not much more to say. Please use the ‘Read Sample’ option to get a feel of the book and in particular, peruse the Table of Contents. That will give you an excellent idea as to what is in store. Enjoy.