Holy Smoke: who is likely to succeed Francis?
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.4 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2025
⏱️ 41 minutes
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Summary
As host Damian Thompson says, Rome – and the entire Church – is in a state of ‘fevered excitement’. While this is to be expected, most commentators agree that this conclave will be one of the most consequential elections for centuries. At stake are both the future direction of the Church and Francis’s legacy – will his work be amended, continued or even rejected?
The Pillar’s Luke Coppen joins Damian to try to make sense of the noise, gossip and political intrigue. They discuss the favourites to emerge as the new Pope, including Parolin, Pizzaballa and Sarah. Who is likely to succeed Francis?
Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Oscar Edmondson.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Spectator magazine is home to wonderful writing, insightful analysis and unrivaled books and arts reviews. |
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| 0:14.6 | Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher. |
| 0:33.1 | Welcome to Holy Smoke, the Spectative Religion podcast. I'm Damien Thompson. |
| 0:41.6 | Next Wednesday, the cardinal electors of the Catholic Church will process into the Sistine Chapel to begin the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis. And, as you might imagine, |
| 0:48.7 | not only Rome, but the entire church is in a state of fevered excitement. |
| 0:55.0 | It normally is when a pope dies and the conclave takes place, |
| 0:58.8 | but this time round I think I'm right in saying |
| 1:01.9 | that it's regarded as one of the most consequential conclaves for centuries, |
| 1:09.3 | and there is a very hard-fought battle between, if not cardinals, |
| 1:13.9 | then the supporters of certain cardinals, to see whether Pope Francis's controversial legacy |
| 1:20.6 | will be preserved, amended, or ditched. And I'm joined today by somebody who can probably tell us more than anything else |
| 1:29.3 | about the state of play and whose judgment, as I know from, what, 30 years of friendship, |
| 1:35.1 | is beyond reproach. This is Luke Coppin of the pillar, who was the best editor of the Cather |
| 1:43.5 | in its history. And unlike me, does not play with hyperbole. |
| 1:50.6 | So, Luke, do you agree that the atmosphere is rather feverish at the moment? |
| 1:57.3 | Yes, I do, absolutely. |
| 1:59.3 | I mean, for the reasons that you mentioned, with the legacy of Pope Francis being shaped through this conclave, and I think also as well, I think that it's not just not just not just a not just the Catholic church that's looking at what's going to be happening, but many non-Cathics around the world are following us with more closely than they have done, I think, for any conclave that I can remember. I think this |
| 2:21.7 | is gripping people's imagination far beyond the church. And why is that, do you think? I think |
| 2:26.6 | perhaps partly because of Pope Francis's outreach to people outside the church and his effort |
| 2:32.7 | to communicate with them. And I think he did grab people's attention through his gestures and through his remarks. |
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