The Pope’s Death

De mortuis nisi bonum. Let only what is good be said of the dead.

This proverb reflects the respect that civilized societies have always had for the dead.

The media have recently devoted much space to Pope Francis's death -- Jorge Mario Bergoglio's death. One well-known Spanish newspaper called it a "social gale."

The world press has analyzed and scrutinized every aspect of his death and pontificate with a meticulousness that sometimes bordered on excess. Everything that needed to be said on the subject has already been said, even more than objectivity would have allowed.

We pray to Divine Providence for his soul, a respectful duty no Christian can shirk.

What can I say that hasn't already been said?

The first thing to note is that, despite the relentless campaign of secularization that has been underway in the Church since at least the nineteenth century, the papacy continues to attract widespread attention.

What would the great heralds of secularism, who loudly prophesied the demise of the Catholic Church at the end of the twentieth century, if they could have seen how interested the world is in the death of a pope today?

Why so much interest?

While the media influence public opinion, they are also profoundly influenced by public opinion. Dozens of pages have been devoted to the pope's death, not so much because of the sympathy of editors and publishers but because of public opinion's veneration, admiration and filial trust in the Chair of Rome.

This attitude of public opinion marks the victory of the papacy as an institution independently of its holder. The papacy has overcome the immense propaganda offensive unleashed against it. Those who prophesied its death rest in cemeteries; Peter's bark continues to sail the seas!

My second comment rests on a question: Are we sure this celebration hurricane around Pope Francis’s figure reflects the true feelings of the faithful?

At a time when so many people confuse public sentiment with publicity and naively imagine that publicity always expresses the public face, I ask whether it is true that the masses see and feel things as many media present them.

As far as I can see, the answer is No. The People of God want to know something else.

In 1968, Paul VI admitted that the Church was the victim of a mysterious "process of self-destruction." Four years later, he announced that the "smoke of Satan" had penetrated the Church. In 1981, John Paul II denounced that "Christians today feel lost, confused, perplexed and even disappointed." His successor, Benedict XVI, also spoke of a "process of progressive decadence," a situation of "ecclesial winter," and deplored "how soiled the face of the Church is!" Francis himself had to admit that the state of the Church was so serious that it resembled "a field hospital after a battle."

The late pontiff departed for eternity with self-destruction in full swing and Satan's smoke spreading. Indeed, under his watch, the process grew considerably more intense, to the point that Cardinal George Pell observed: "We are weaker than we were fifty years ago."

The Conclave is soon meeting to elect his successor.

A thousand questions could be asked about the new pope, but the main one is: What will he do in the face of the Church's self-destruction and Satan's smoke? What most interests anyone aboard a ship plagued by thick smoke and in the company of passengers dismantling the ship is what will be done about it.

Metaphors aside, the question today is whether the "paradigm shift" experiment initiated by Pope Francis is worth continuing or whether, on the contrary, a significant effort must be made to clarify the faithful and rally them around the fundamental postulates of the Catholic Faith capable of rekindling the hope and missionary spirit that have characterized all the Church's renewals throughout its history.

In other words, should the Church continue to bow to the world, following its evil tendencies, or should it react with pride, proclaiming its identity founded on Christ and defying modern secularization to gather the truly faithful under the standard of the Cross?

All studies, which we've discussed at length and to which I'll return later, show that, while ever-smaller and aging minorities are leaning towards the former option, ever-larger and more dynamic minorities, made up mainly of young people, are resolutely leaning towards the latter. The Church must not give in but fight.

It's a question of Faith and fidelity to Our Lord Jesus Christ, who judges the living and the dead from His eternal throne.

What do the cardinals gathered in Rome for the General Congregation preceding the Conclave think? The answer is not entirely clear, if only because Francis has created a plethora of cardinals whose orientation is little known.

Soon, one of them will appear on the balcony of St. Peter's, dressed in white. Faced with the process of surrender to the world described above, will he be a fighter, a negotiator or a mediator?

I'm among those who would be happy to have a fighter.

As we renew our prayers for the soul of the recently deceased pope, we ask Divine Providence to enlighten the cardinals and give them courage. The fate of Peter's bark is in their hands.

Julio Loredo is a journalist, writer and lecturer. He is president of the Italian association Tradizione Famiglia Proprietà and its eponymous magazine and the author of Liberation Theology: How Marxism Infiltrated the Catholic Church. He regularly participates in international conferences to defend Faith, family and tradition.