Many papal opponents are actually calling for the Apostolic See to use the power of excommunication against heretics and schismatics. Some of these opponents are actually guilty of public formal schism or public formal heresy themselves. They are inadvertently calling for their own excommunication. But they imagine that the persons guilty of schism and heresy are those who oppose their own faulty understanding of the Catholic Faith. They imagine that they themselves, being conservative and adhering to the teachings of the conservative or traditionalist subcultures, cannot possibly have erred gravely on doctrine or discipline.
At the same time that they call for the Church to use the power of excommunication more often and more readily, they complain that Pope Francis is too harsh and is rendering unjust judgments against the conservative opponents of the Pope, for example Bishop Strickland and Cardinal Burke. Strickland was not excommunicated and was not laicized; he was only removed as local ordinary of his diocese. Other Bishops have been assigned a coadjutor bishop, to address concerns the Pope has with those dioceses. Cardinal Burke, according to one report, of questionable reliability and based on anonymous sources, is only being deprived of his 4000+ square foot “apartment” in Rome and his monthly salary. [417 square metres (4,488 square feet), according to Christopher Lamb on X]
Pope Francis is a liberal Pope, and so he tends to be less harsh in administering discipline in the Church. He has been criticized for not being harsh enough against clergy accused of abuse. But I notice that whenever a conservative cleric is accuse of abuse, no matter what the evidence may be, the conservative opponents of Pope Francis defend that person, declaring his innocence as if it were a fact. They treat every conservative leader in the Church as necessarily being faithful and holy, merely because they have the same conservative views on religion and because they oppose the Roman Pontiff Pope Francis.
Consider the Next Pope
My opinion is that the next Roman Pontiff after Pope Francis will be conservative. Those who have malice in their hearts toward Pope Francis will rejoice, temporarily. Do you have no knowledge at all of the history of the Church and Her Popes? The next Pope — whom I speculate will take the name Pius XIII — will not declare Pope Francis to be an invalid Pope, as some papal accusers hope. Any claimed Roman Pontiff who is accepted by the body of Bishops and the body of the faithful, as is clearly the case with Pope Francis, cannot possibly be invalid, as the Church is apostolic and indefectible. Furthermore, the Roman Pontiff have never accused their valid predecessors of heresy. Pope Saint Agatho, Pope Saint Leo II, and the later Pontiff Pope John IV each exonerated Pope Honorius I of heresy. No Pope has ever accuse Pope John 22 of heresy. So the next conservative Pope will not be accusing Pope Francis of heresy or apostasy or schism or idolatry.
In fact, there is ample evidence from Popes, Councils, Fathers, Doctors, Saints that the charism of truth and never-failing faith given to every Roman Pontiff protects the Pope from every grave error on doctrine and discipline, as well as keeping him in a never-failing faith personally and in his teaching and decisions for the Church. See the articles at Catholicism.io
So it is very unlikely that the next Pope, no matter how conservative he may be, will reject the claims of the accusers of Pope Francis, and official reaffirm the validity of the Pontificate of Pope Francis and the sanctity and veracity of his teachings.
Now any Pope can err, under the Keys of Peter, when deciding matters of doctrine and discipline non-infallibly. However, the type and degree of error cannot be grave; such errors cannot, individually, nor as a set, gravely harm the indefectibility of the Church, the path of salvation of the faithful, the Truths of the Faith, the Church or Her essential characteristics and mission, nor the like.
But those points apply to every Roman Pontiff and every Ecumenical Council approved by the Roman Pontiff.
The next question is whether the next Pope, being conservative, will take a different approach to certain questions than Pope Francis.
I expect that Pius XIII will allow greater use of the Latin Mass and will make other changes to discipline, such as narrowing who may receive holy Communion. He may change the rules for certain case involving LGBTQ persons. Changes in discipline are the prerogative of each Pope, and such changes do not imply grave error on the part of any predecessor.
But what position will Pius XIII take on the opponents of Pope Francis? The answer is very simple and highly likely. Conservative Popes tend to be more likely to use harsher discipline against those who oppose authority in the Church. Those persons who have prominently obstinately perseveringly refused submission to the Roman Pontiff Pope Francis may be excommunicated, latae sententiae and ferendae sententiae, by the next conservative Roman Pontiff. Cardinals, Bishops, priests, and deacons who have been most prominent and most vehement in refusing submission to the Roman Pontiff Pope Francis may be excommunicated and either forced into retirement or removed from active ministry (or even laicized). Conservative Popes are known for taking clear definitive and sharp action against schismatics and heretics.
The next conservative Roman Pontiff might decide various questions, under which Pope Francis has been falsely accused of heresy. And just as happens when Ecumenical Councils decide important questions of faith and morals, the Pope might excommunicate all who disagree with his definitive teachings or with his reaffirmation of the definitive teachings of Vatican I and II. You can try to undermine the Second Vatican Council by claiming that all its teachings are pastoral and non-infallible. But the fact is very clear that the successive Popes and the body of Bishops dispersed in the world, led by the Pope, have accepted the teachings of Vatican II, each as one position definitively to be held, making those teachings infallible under the ordinary universal magisterium.
Those who have assailed Pope Francis with malice, ridicule, hatred, and the most vicious accusations that can possibly be made in religion, will temporarily rejoice when a conservative is elected as the next Roman Pontiff. Then, when they see that he not only refuses to condemn Pope Francis and his teachings, but reaffirms them; when they see that he begins to excommunicate and laicize those Catholics who refused submission to Pope Francis, who judged and rejected many teachings of various Popes and Ecumenical Councils; when they realize that the one holy catholic and apostolic Church will never accept their version of the Faith; they will reject this next conservative Pope, call out his name as evil, and admit what has been true for some time now, that they are not formally members of the Roman Catholic Church.
Those who hope for an end to the reign of Pope Francis will be sorely disappointed and possibly shocked and scandalized by the next conservative Pope, who succeeds Pope Francis.
Ronald L Conte Jr
the reproach of Christ 
2. Ron, thank you for making a post about the new pope. Approaching his 87th anniversary, and making significant changes in the structure as well as appointing 2/3 of the cardinals electors, pope Francis may simply retire as he himself said more than 2 times. In fact we enter the time of discussions of who the next pope will be. Besides my other post where I say who I expect to be, let me say here who he should not be. He should not be anyone from the Curia. We don’t need a repetition of 2005 when after the longest and holy pontificate of St John Paul II we had the election of one of his closest collaborators who actually didn’t continue his policy, sadly. I would not evaluate here pope Benedict who reserved his place in history and who is lauded at least for restoring the Latin mass besides other things. His honorable resignation paved the way for a sooner election of pope Francis instead of waiting another decade. I only say that we don’t need a second term now, when it is clear that the reform of pope Francis was blocked – not by us the common Catholics who want a renewal and who practically cannot block anything. But by those on the top including by dragging feet and not acting on the words said, decisions made, and encyclicals written by pope Francis. I say who the next pope I expect to be, in my other comment. I guess that will be the topic in the coming weeks and months also in the secular media, regardless of when exactly pope Francis will retire. Everyone will be affected, not only the Catholics. As everyone is called to salvation and participation in the Catholic Church and the Divine grace given through the Sacraments.
I agree for much of what you say, but I think the next pope will be more liberal than pope Francis. Unless the 2/3 cardinals appointed by pope Francis and being themselves more liberal than conservative (if such duality is the only criteria) decide all to change their views overnight and to elect someone more conservative than themselves. I can’t see it happening.
Rather they may decide to use the full spectrum of possibilities as who could be the next pope. Nowhere it is said he must be a cardinal. He doesn’t even have to be a bishop, providing he is capable of becoming a bishop upon his election. He only needs to be baptized male. It is not said he must be baptized Catholic, or that he must be single. But of course it would be quite strange to elect let say an Orthodox monk or Anglican married priest for bishop of Rome.
More realistically, I think the next pope will be chosen among the 3,000 Catholic bishops under the age of 70. There are still holy people I believe. Holy doesn’t mean conservative. It is a time the Roman structures to be renewed by someone outside them. As a newly appointed bishop in USA said, even to the extend he proposed moving the Holy See outside the city of Rome and to start it all with new personnel. What stops the next pope to spend more time in Castel Gandolfo for example? Nothing! Or how about to spend half of his time in Brazil, especially if he is chosen among the Brazilian bishops? Our Lady of Aparecida basilica is one of the biggest in the world, with daily masses streamed on a special online TV round the clock. Renewal of the Church means renewal for all of her 1.3 bln members most of whom live in misery and struggle for their daily survival, and not only for the minority of them living in the developed West.
If however the next pontiff will be from the developed West, I think a dedicated but not fanatical monk from a small European place would do a better work than any of the princes of the Church that struggle for the highest post. Otherwise, there will be no meaningful spiritual reform to the extend to make the Church the desired place for young and old to spend their free time in the parishes as second homes. Many other issues come together. It is not a single issue, and I wonder how fast the American Catholics forgot their main issue of abortion and threw their strength fighting for other things (gender related) that in many cases border a political struggle. Not that those issues are not important. Just to show that the Single Issue policy is doomed to fail even if it is the most important single issue in the world. As several popes clearly said to the American Catholics. Anyway.
A renewal means when you enter in the church, any Catholic church, to feel welcome, to be able to grow spiritually, to find pastors spiritual fathers and not administrators or worse. Why not free lunches for everyone rich and poor? (the rich ones could easily drop as much money as they want). The Community is gone, it has to be restored! A community can’t be created by a 1h presence on Sunday mass, not knowing the problems of the person next to you and not carrying.
The Church has to find a new language for the world that is on the brink of self destruction AGAIN. It was not only the Cuban crisis that the papal theologians super-expose how THEY saved the world. Maybe they did, but the world continues to need to be saved. The super-intelligent princes of the Church have proven they are incapable of changing themselves in the pontificate of pope Francis and beforehand. I don’t want to quote cardinals Bertone and Sodano, pillars in the pontificate of the Holy and beloved St John Paul II. If we don’t have the predicted by him Civilization of Love by now, 23 years after his set landmark year of 2000, it is to a great degree thanks to such hi-level figures and their subordinates in the Church who stopped the Divine grace coming from the words of the Holy pope to materialize in real deeds and fruits. Fatima is one of the many examples. If you have been on only one WYD you would understand the great rift between good words and intentions and the reality of daily life in parishes as well as the overall Church policy. What was promised by St John Paul II for decades was not fulfilled by many bishops, and they know it because they are both intelligent enough and have consciences. As Mother Theresa answered to the question who is guilty for the situation in the world: “You and Me”.
If the cardinals feel they are called by the Holy Spirit for such a change in the meaning of spiritual growth and not in the meaning of the next lowering the moral level, then they should look beyond their secluded circle. To find the leader who will steer the Church through the seemingly inevitable WW3 and more importantly after that – maybe after a decade or so spent underground in city bunkers, and then restoring all again. On that part it could be elaborated more of course.
And maybe it is a time to close once and for all the prophecy of St Malachi And Fatima vision of martyrdom. if the Holy See must move, even as little as 30 km away from Rome, let it be done so there will be no destruction of Rome. Prophecy is not a Dogma.
What we need in 21st century is to save souls at a much greater pace than being done until now, with new methods and in new world situation that will evolve as we speak each 6 months or each 2 weeks when the things start happening. And not to be slaves of prejudices and medieval mode – except for the gothic cathedrals, classical music and works of Aquinas…if I could say it clear enough. A conservative follower of medieval time will lose countless souls – not to the kingdom of God in heaven (although that is a possibility too, sadly) – but for sure to the earthly visible kingdom of Jesus found on Peter. Nobody would want to see a Catholic church consisting of a hundred million fanatics that condemns to hell everyone else especially the other normal Catholics who would feel impossible to stay in if that ever happens. We don’t need that. We need the opposite development planned by the Great John Paul II and never fulfilled until now.
That is my view in brief, it might be wrong of course.