Our Next Pope
By: Obie Usategui
5/8/2025

As we all know, yesterday started the conclave where 133 cardinals will have the task of selecting the new head of the Catholic Church, the head of 1.4 billion baptized Catholics worldwide – not an easy task I may add. I say the fact that we Catholics are not the largest religion in the world, which is Christianity with 2.6 billion followers worldwide, still, the Catholic Church is one of the most powerful and influential religious sects in the world. As such, the head of the church, the Pope has a distinct and magnanimous responsibility in the way he conducts business.

I must be honest and admit that I had a lot of mixed feelings about whether to publish this article or not, one which could cause some controversy in more ways than one. That said, as you can tell, in the end, I opted to go ahead with it as, not doing so, would be, in my records, coping-out, which is not in my nature.

Today’s dissertation deals with the election of a new Pope in lieu of the recent passing of Pope Francis. Notwithstanding the respect owed to the head of our church, the very same day that Pope Francis passed, I saw a picture of him with Fidel Castro during his visit to our island on September 20th, 2015. As a matter of fact, the picture I saw had a sub-heading in Spanish which read, “this is how we will remember you.” And, right there and then, I thought to myself, yes, how sad that is how I will remember this man – not a pretty sight, I may add.

To see the head of our church, presumably, the closest link between God and mankind, to see Pope Francis holding the bloody hands of Fidel Castro, was, as far as I am concerned, despicable, a true slap on the face to every decent Cuban; to any Cuban that has dignity and self-respect. I know that this crude, but true characterization of this Pope may not land well with some of the most virtuous of you out there; those who will find the Pope’s meeting with Fidel Castro as spiritually desirable following in Jesus Christ’s footsteps in the forgiveness of HIS enemies while in the cross before he died.

Me, on the other hand, admittedly, no I am not as virtuous in going as far as approving of the head of our church holding the hand of an assassin responsible for death of so many of our fellow Cubans; responsible for the grief of so many Cubans, who, for the past sixty-five years have lived under the repression of a man that strived to eliminate Catholicism and religion out of the island as the clergy became this dictator’s favorite target of persecution.

With all due respect to the virtuous, to be brutally honest here, I think Jorge Mario Bergoglio a/k/a Pope Francis had highly questionable ideological tendencies all leaning to Left. Tendencies, which are historically akin to Jesuits within the Catholic Church. Mind you, I am trying extremely hard to be politically correct here in how I feel about this Pope Francis. Again, to the most virtuous out there, for the sake of being factual, let me try and back up some of my inferences with truths, many of which have been outright suppressed and/or repressed keeping them from the public.

Did you all know that Pope Francis did an interview with Eugenio Scalfari – an Italian journalist, self-described as a liberal who compared Pope Francis to the former Italian Communist Party leader Enrico Berlinguer. In his interview with Scalfari, Pope Francis was quoted as saying that “communists think like Christians.” Frankly, I do not think it can get any worse than that, can it? To be clear, historically, the Catholic Church has been very transparent in its condemnation of communism. In 1949 the Church issued a Decree against Communism stating that anyone who professed communism was to be excommunicated as an apostate.

I personally am quite troubled on the fact that, despite the Catholic Church’s incompatibility with Communism and all the latter stands for, that a Pope, the head of the church can clearly set himself apart against his predecessors and against the Church’s historical ideological position on Communism. At the root of Communism, its creator Karl Marx proclaimed, “the abolition of religion as the latter [religion] was the illusory happiness of the people in the demand for their real happiness.” Put plainly, Communism is antithetical to religion with completely opposite ideals, nevertheless, proponents of this genocidal anti-Christian philosophy were openly welcomed at the Vatican by Pope Francis as part of a movement he crusaded called “the transversal dialogue project – to wit, a coalition of Marxists, Communists and Christians aimed at revising socially ethic ways to find a commonality of identity between ideologies.

Yes, Pope Francis, in addition openly criticized “free market economies.” The pontiff sided with individuals of the same philosophy that throughout history resulted in the death of millions. Again, I am certain that Pope Francis apologists will find all kinds of biblical and religious reasons to justify his open sympathy for communism. With all due respect to those who feel that way, for me, personally, when it comes to Communism there cannot be middle grounds, no half-way stances. You either are or are not.

In ending, I personally hope and trust that whenever that white smoke comes out of the Sistine Chappel, whenever there is a new Pope elected, I hope that the 133 cardinals participating in the election, elect a Pope who takes us back to the conservatism that was once prevalent in our Church. That they make sure that the new Pope, whomever that may be is one that embraces our Church’s long standing tradition, a church that since the mid-19th century, under Joh Paul II’s pontificate protested against the “pernicious fictions” of Marxism, Socialism and Communism – the same Church that a half a century later, Pope Pius XI in the Divini Redemtori [1937] recited his encyclical “atheistic communism” one that viewed communism as a “threat” to the Church which could not be ignored, let alone embraced or supported.

As for Pope Francis, yes, may his soul rest in peace, however much I disavow his questionable postures during his pontificate, moreover his shameful visit with one of the world’s most egregious and heartless assassins. His visit with Fidel Castro – a not so memorable remembrance on how I will forever remember this Pope.