Who might replace Pope Francis as his tenure in jeopardy amid health battle
Pope Francis is in the biggest health battle of his life, sparking much chatter about who might replace him. See the contenders.
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Pope Francis has been dubbed over the years the “woke pope”, drawing global attention for his progressive views on many controversial issues including LGBTQI rights to priest celibacy while demanding urgent action to be taken on climate change.
The pontiff – who drives a modest Ford Focus and hasn’t watched television since 1990 – has fought for social injustices and championed the causes of migrants and refugees, but now his reign hangs in the balance as he enters his third week in Rome’s Gemelli hospital.
He remains in a critical condition, having battled bronchitis, double pneumonia, and kidney problems.
He has undergone a series of medical tests and received high-flow oxygen therapy and blood transfusions but, while showing slight improvements, his prognosis remains “reserved”.
Pilgrims from all around the world have descended on Vatican City since news broke of his ill health, holding nightly rosary prayers in St. Peter’s Square for the 88-year-old.
The Vatican continues to provide two daily updates on the pontiff’s health but it begs the questions: what’s next and who could replace him should he die or resign in what is a Jubilee year for the church?
APPOINTMENT
Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, began his reign as the 266th pope on March 13, 2013, and became the first Latin America pontiff.
Pope Francis took the name Francis in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi, a beloved Catholic saint and founder of the Franciscan order.
Ireland’s Sunday Independent Rome-based columnist Paddy Agnew has reported on the Vatican for more than 40 years, and told this masthead Pope Francis wasted no time as leader of the Catholic Church to push an end to inequality and broaching topics that were often off limits for the faithful.
Some people, Mr Agnew said, even labelled Pope Francis a “communist”.
“He’s changed the whole shape of the Catholic Church. he came into power in 2013 with a mandate which was an unusual thing in itself,” Mr Agnew said.
“He hasn’t changed any piece of fundamental Catholic Church teaching but he started the talk about a lot of issues … about priest celibacy, women priests.
“The thing I remember most about Pope Francis is a couple of days after he had been elected he held a press conference for the media and he said that very simply, ‘I want a church of the poor and for the poor’.
“He’s dealt with all the big social issues and he’s dealt with things that make a lot of people who are not Catholic … they feel very sympathetic to him, for example he’s dealt with the climate crisis”.
UPDATE: Many worshippers gathered outside Gemelli hospital in Rome to pray for Pope Francis as he remains in the health facility fighting for his life. @theheraldsun@dailytelegraph@couriermail@theTiser@SkyNewsAustpic.twitter.com/RJuhZKzNl6
— Sophie Elsworth (@sophieelsworth) February 24, 2025
GEORGE PELL
The late cardinal George Pell, who died aged 81 in 2023, was one of Pope Francis’s top aides until child sex abuse charges were levelled against him in 2017.
He has been Pope Francis’s “economic tsar” since 2013 and focused firmly on reforming the Vatican’s finances, but Mr Agnew said that came crashing down when he returned to Australia to face the historical charges, which he ultimately beat.
“He made George Pell his economic tsar and Pell was to my mind doing a serious job of it,” Mr Agnew said.
“But then others forces in Australia probably got in on the act in the sense that they basically dug up the whole child abuse accusations … and completely put George Pell out of business and he had to resign here and go back down and fight his case in Australia”.
Cardinal Pell’s role as the head of the newly-established Secretariat of the Economy which oversaw the Vatican’s finances came to an abrupt end in 2017 when the child sex abuse charges emerged.
Hendro Munsterman, Vatican correspondent at Netherlands’ newspaper Nederland Dagblad, said despite the pair fostering a close relationship when it came to managing money, Pope Francis and Cardinal Pell were worlds apart when it came to their views on social issues.
“It was very clear that Pope Francis and Cardinal Pell were on the same line when it came to the financial affairs of the Vatican and Cardinal Pell did a very good job there,” he said.
“But on moral issues, Pope Francis and Cardinal Pell were on very different lines”.
CONTROVERSIES
Pope Francis hasn’t shied away from delving into culture wars. He drew the ire of many in the Catholic Church when he said same-sex couples should be able to take part in “civil unions”, but this won praise from LGBTQI Catholics.
In a 2020 documentary Francesco, compiled by Oscar-nominated director Evgeny Afineevksy, Pope Francis said: “Homosexuals have a right to be part of the family.
“They are children of God and have a right to a family.
“Nobody should be thrown out or made miserable because of it”.
His comments came despite the Catholic Church labelling homosexuality “disordered”.
Pope Francis has also called for urgent action to help tackle climate change and has previously said the world is “collapsing” due to a climate emergency.
At the world climate summit, COP28 United Nations Climate Change conference in 2023, the pope also called for an end to coal, oil and gas and urged people around the world to make changes to their lifestyle to help reduce the damage to the planet.
The pontiff has also been outspoken about migration and just last month hit out at US president Donald Trump and said his plans to deport illegal immigrants would be a “disgrace” if it came to fruition.
It’s not the first time the pontiff has weighed into Mr Trump’s views on migration – in 2016 the pope said: “A person who thinks only of building walls … and not of building bridges is not Christian”.
Another move by the pope which drew extensive criticism came in the same year when he changed the way priests dealt with Catholics who had divorced and remarried. He declared they should not be excommunicated.
He praised a document that said priests could offer the “help of sacraments” for families not living in traditional circumstances.
SUCCESSOR
While Catholics around the world are hoping that Pope Francis can make a full recovery, there has been plenty of chatter about who will replace him when he does die.
The 2024 College of Cardinals Report listed 12 likely candidates.
Of those, four are Italian; others come from the Netherlands, Algeria, Myanmar, Switzerland, Hungary, Sri Lanka, Guinea and the Philippines.
Italian-born cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, left-leaning Roman Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, and progressive Filipino cardinal Luis Tagle are frontrunners.
Mr Munsterman said the “field has never been more open”.
“Pope Francis named a lot of cardinals from what he calls the peripheries, from Tonga, from Mongolia where there are only 1500 Catholics living in that country.
“It’s very difficult to tell today who are the candidates, here in Italy, my Italian colleagues always think it will be an Italian again”.
Mr Agnew said he expects Pope Francis’s replacement will be a cardinal with similar progressive views to his own ideologies.
“The pope has appointed about 138 cardinal electors who are all aged under 80, you would think they’ll appoint someone who will follow Francis’s way”, he said.
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