"The Conclave is Coming, The Conclave is Coming!"

We are on the cusp of a new day of faith or a new day of disaster. Will the successors of the St. Gallen Mafia succeed in placing a clone of Francis in Peter's chair? Or will we see a true shepherd with zeal for the faith and for the salvation of the flock be chosen? 

There is something providential about the week of the conclave beginning with the feast of St. Pope Pius V, one of the greatest reformer popes in the history of the Church. Catholic Online describes his papacy, both the accomplishments and mistakes:

As pope, Pius saw his main objective as the continuation of the massive program of reform for the Church, in particular the full implementation of the decrees of the Council of Trent. He published the Roman Catechism, the revised Roman Breviary, and the Roman Missal; he also declared Thomas Aquinas a Doctor of the Church, commanded a new edition of the works of Thomas Aquinas, and created a commission to revise the Vulgate. 

The decrees of Trent were published throughout all Catholic lands, including Europe, Asia, Africa, and the New World, and the pontiff insisted on their strict adherence. In 1571, Pius created the Congregation of the Index to give strength to the Church’s resistance to Protestant and heretical writings, and he used the Inquisition to prevent any Protestant ideas from gaining a foot hold in Italy. 

In dealing with the threat of the Ottoman Turks who were advancing steadily across the Mediterranean, Pius organized a formidable alliance between Venice and Spain, culminating in the Battle of Lepanto, which was a complete and shattering triumph over the Turks. The day of the victory was declared the Feast Day of Our Lady of Victory in recognition of Our Lady’s intercession in answer to the saying of the Rosary all over Catholic Europe. 

Pius also spurred the reforms of the Church by example. He insisted upon wearing his coarse Dominican robes, even beneath the magnificent vestments worn by the popes, and was wholeheartedly devoted to the religious life. 

His reign was blemished only by the continuing oppression of the Inquisition; the often brutal treatment of the Jews of Rome; and the ill advised decision to excommunicate Queen Elizabeth I of England in February 1570, an act which also declared her deposed and which only worsened the plight of English Catholics. These were overshadowed in the view of later generations by his contributions to the Catholic Reformation. Pope Clement beatified him on May 1, 1672, and Pope Clement XI canonized him on May 22, 1712.

Think about this great saint. We need a pope to fight modernism the way he fought Protestantism and Islam. We need a pope "wholeheartedly devoted to the religious life." The disaster over the past several decades gave us homosexual seminarians welcomed with open arms while gatekeepers blocked the vocations of orthodox men. Hence the homosexual clergy abuse scandals! And many of the same cardinals who covered up the abuse will be voting in the coming days. 

Like the LGBTQ gang who carry their signs, "Abortion on demand without apology;" too many cardinals enabled sex abuse and to this day express no remorse. They might as well wear a badge reading, "Sex abuse enabler without apology." Some of them belong in jail for their crimes including the new bishop of Washington, D.C. Robert McElroy. But they will be in Rome shilling for a "progressive" and faithless pope to continue the Church wreckovation.

How many of the cardinals actually believe what the Church teaches? I recently read St. Francis Xavier's Act of Faith and that question crossed my mind. How many of our bishops and cardinals and clergy could pray this without reserve? How many laity who call themselves Catholic could pray it without their cafeteria reservations? What about me? What about you? Do we walk in the footsteps of the great missionary who gave his life for the faith with a zeal that put him in his grave in his mid forties? Do we love Jesus and have a zeal for souls? Read the act of faith and ask yourself what you would be willing to do to bring souls to Christ:

I believe, with all my heart, all that the Holy Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church commands me to believe of You, O my God! One God in three persons.

I believe all that the Church believes and teaches regarding the eternal Son of the Father, God like Him, and who, for my sake, became man, suffered, died rose again and reigns in heaven with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

I finally believe all that the holy Church, our mother, commands me to believe. I have a firm resolve to lose everything, to suffer everything, to give my blood and my life, rather than to give up a single point of my faith, in which I want to live and die. [Can you imagine Blase Cupich, Robert McElroy, Wilton Gregory, etc. praying this?]

When my last hour comes, my cold mouth may not be able to renew the expression of my faith; but I confess, as of now, for the moment of my death, that I acknowledge You, O Jesus Savior! as the Son of God. I velieve in You, I dedicate to You my heart, my soul, my life, my whole self. Amen.

Rorate Caeli has a guide on the likely candidates for the papacy. It makes for interesting reading. Of course, there could easily be a surpise, but it's good to know whose in the running. No doubt the bookies of Rome are offering betting odds.

Let us pray and fast for the blessing of a holy, wise, and zealous "Papa" who loves the sheep and doesn't consider those who embrace tradition smelly and mentally unbalanced. Let us also pray that the white smoke heralds a pope wearing the white baptismal garment of holy faith and not the white apron of masonry and modernism.