“When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread.” (John 21:9)

In Sunday’s Gospel, the disciples catch 153 fish in an extraordinary way. But Jesus already has fish to give them on the shore. Jesus multiplied their catch not in order to give them food but to give them faith, to help them recognise him.

The extraordinary graces that Jesus works through us, he could do equally well without us, but he acts through us because it helps us love him when we realise he shares his work with us.

The more he chooses to do through us, the more grace and love he pours into us so we can cooperate with him. 

Victory, it’s been said, has a thousand fathers, while defeat is an orphan. Right now, taking up residence at that same orphanage appears to be a bit of fake news from the 2025 conclave, specifically a false report this past Wednesday about the health of front-running papal candidate Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

At the moment, the American Catholic site CatholicVote.org and several Italian news agencies seem to be in a contest to see who can offload responsibility for the rumour on the other.

On Wednesday, a report began to make the rounds that Parolin, 70, had fainted during that day’s General Congregation meeting of cardinals due to a spike in his blood pressure, and that he required medical intervention from Vatican healthcare personnel. While most media outlets were cautious, understanding that negative rumours about a candidate’s health are often part of the uglier pre-conclave dynamics, a few went with the story anyway, citing unnamed sources.

Each day between now and the May 7 conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis, we are running a profile of a different “papabile”, the Italian term for a man who could be pope. There’s no precise way to identity these contenders; it’s mostly a matter of weighing reputations, positions held and influence wielded over the years. There’s also certainly no guarantee one of these candidates will emerge wearing white; as an old bit of Roman wisdom has it, “He who enters a conclave as a pope exits as a cardinal.” But these profiles will feature the leading names drawing buzz in Rome right now, at least making it very likely that they will get a look. Knowing who these men are also suggests issues and qualities other cardinals see as desirable heading into the election.

In the classic 1941 film noir, a cultured criminal named Kasper Gutman says to the rough-around-the-edges detective Sam Spade, “By gad, sir, you are a character! There’s never any telling what you’ll say or do next, except that it’s bound to be something astonishing.”

With just four days to go until the conclave to elect a new pope begins, cardinals are addressing a variety of challenges the next pontiff will have to face. During a flurry of pre-conclave meetings happening in the Vatican, discussions have seen both criticisms of the late pontiff, with a call for more clarity from his successor, but also praise and a call for continuity with Pope Francis’s policies.

Cardinals have now been meeting for eight days in pre-conclave general congregations, during which they are getting to know one another and offering interventions on the state of the world and the Church, to establish a profile for the next Successor of Peter.

During the first general congregations, there was significant criticism of Pope Francis and his legacy among more conservatively minded members of the “old guard”; however, recent interventions have highlighted Francis’s emphasis on evangelisation and synodality.

Vatican firefighters have installed the all-important chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel ahead of next week’s conclave to select a new pope.

The temporary chimney, from which black smoke issues until a pope is elected, at which point white smoke pours forth, was installed on 2 May.

The installation of the chimney is a key step in the lead-up to the conclave, along with officers from the Swiss Guards and the Vatican Gendarmerie, the sovereign nation’s tiny police force, sweeping the famous frescoed chapel for listening devices and bugs, reports the Daily Telegraph.

One of the stories surrounding the conclave to elect Pope Francis’s successor – set to open on May 7 – is the unfamiliarity of the cardinal electors with one another. They are not all perfect strangers to one another but many of them don’t really know each other that well.

A record number of cardinals are eligible to vote for the next pope – 135 are under 80, although at least two will not be attending.

Francis appointed most of them. Many of them are from countries that never had a cardinal before, and their guys aren’t often in Rome meeting the other members of this very exclusive club.

By way of inspiration this weekend, and to provide a reminder of and insight into the heart and mind of the man who just left us, here are highlights of the late Pontiff’s memorable sayings:

On priestly ministry

A good priest can be recognised by the way his people are anointed: this is a clear proof. When our people are anointed with the oil of gladness, it is obvious: for example, when they leave Mass looking as if they have heard good news. Our people like to hear the Gospel preached with “unction”, they like it when the Gospel we preach touches their daily lives, when it runs down like the oil of Aaron to the edges of reality, when it brings light to moments of extreme darkness, to the “outskirts” where people of faith are most exposed to the onslaught of those who want to tear down their faith. People thank us because they feel that we have prayed over the realities of their everyday lives, their troubles, their joys, their burdens and their hopes. And when they feel that the fragrance of the Anointed One, of Christ, has come to them through us, they feel encouraged to entrust to us everything they want to bring before the Lord: “Pray for me, Father, because I have this problem”, “Bless me Father”, “Pray for me” – these words are the sign that the anointing has flowed down to the edges of the robe, for it has turned into a prayer of supplication, the supplication of the People of God.
—Chrism Mass, 28 March 2013

Each day between now and the May 7 conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis, John Allen is offering a profile of a different papabile, the Italian term for a man who could be pope. There’s no scientific way to identity these contenders; it’s mostly a matter of weighing reputations, positions held and influence wielded over the years. There’s also certainly no guarantee one of these candidates will emerge wearing white; as an old bit of Roman wisdom has it, “He who enters a conclave as a pope exits as a cardinal.” These are, however, the leading names drawing buzz in Rome right now, at least ensuring they will get a look. Knowing who these men are also suggests issues and qualities other cardinals see as desirable heading into the election.

ROME – Sweden is widely considered one of the most secularised societies on the face of the earth, with a 2016 Gallup poll finding that almost 20 percent of Swedes identify as atheists and 55 percent say they’re non-religious, while an official government survey in 2015 found that only one in ten Swedes thinks religion is important in daily life.

Every Catholic has his or her prediction for the conclave: some predict a new pope in the mould of Pope Francis, others predict a course correction for the Church with the election of a man such as Cardinal Robert Sarah. But if the topic of the conclave has been on everyone’s lips, one question of which I’ve heard little discussion so far has been its length: will the cardinals swiftly return a new pope, or will there be a long, hard fight, with many rounds of balloting before one candidate achieves a two-thirds majority of the electors?

Even the betting markets have neglected this question of the conclave’s length: at the time of writing, users of the betting website Polymarket had staked over $10,000,000 on the identity of the next pope, but only $300,000 on the date of his election. Yet I believe that the most striking feature of this year’s conclave – the one that historians will remember – could well be that it lasts a very long time.

There are moments in history that act as defining dates determining and reflecting the change of direction in world affairs. We think of 1789 and the French Revolution, and of 1917 with the Russian revolution. If you subscribe to the Great Man of History perspective, then there are moments of election and choice that equally offer similar definition. 

Hitler’s appointment of Chancellor in Germany in 1933 represented a point of no return in European affairs. Trump’s re-election of 2025 might represent the high-water mark of Wokism in America, after which followed its exposure and repudiation.

The election of the 267th successor to St Peter has the capacity to be one of equal significance in the history of the Catholic Church. But since the Catholic Church contains the deepest ideological, philosophical and spiritual resources of any organisation, the effect it has in resisting, challenging and converting global or local culture is incalculable.

Each day between now and the May 7 conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis, we are running a profile of a different “papabile”, the Italian term for a man who could be pope. There’s no precise way to identity these contenders; it’s mostly a matter of weighing reputations, positions held and influence wielded over the years. There’s also certainly no guarantee one of these candidates will emerge wearing white; as an old bit of Roman wisdom has it, “He who enters a conclave as a pope exits as a cardinal.” But these profiles will feature the leading names drawing buzz in Rome right now, at least making it very likely that they will get a look. Knowing who these men are also suggests issues and qualities other cardinals see as desirable heading into the election.

Once upon a time, it was said that the idea of an American pope was unthinkable. In the beginning, it was for basically logistical reasons – steamships from the New World took so long to reach Rome that American cardinals often arrived too late to vote, and in any event they were never part of the political sausage-grinding before the conclave began.

Every so often there comes a moment in history when the world’s entire attention is focused on a particular event or person – the death of a pope is one such example. When Pope Francis appeared to give Urbi et Orbi on Easter morning, and to be driven around St Peter’s Square for what would be the final time, he looked so unwell that it seemed obvious that he would not live much longer. With impeccable timing, which could hardly have been more dramatic, he died that night; the last act of this Servant of the Servants of God was to impart his apostolic benediction to Rome and the world beyond its gates.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller has said the Roman Catholic Church needs to stand up to the “gay lobby” as part of taking a stronger position “on doctrine” that resists ideologically driven pressures.

The comments from the German cardinal, who is viewed as a influential traditionalist and was one of the strongest critics of Pope Francis during his papacy, came shortly before it was announced that the conclave to elect the next pope will occur on 7 May, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Cardinal Müller told Italian media La Stampa in a 28 April article that the next pope needs to be “strong on doctrine” and “determined to stand up to ideological lobbies, including the gay lobby”.

He said the next pontiff should also have “a solid theological and doctrinal formation”, and called for a return to “orthodoxy, doctrine founded on Scripture and apostolic tradition, and against heresy”.

Each day between now and the May 7 conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis, we are running a profile of a different “papabile”, the Italian term for a man who could be pope. There’s no precise way to identity these contenders; it’s mostly a matter of weighing reputations, positions held and influence wielded over the years. There’s also certainly no guarantee one of these candidates will emerge wearing white; as an old bit of Roman wisdom has it, “He who enters a conclave as a pope exits as a cardinal.” But these profiles will feature the leading names drawing buzz in Rome right now, at least making it very likely that they will get a look. Knowing who these men are also suggests issues and qualities other cardinals see as desirable heading into the election.

It’s one measure of how young Luis Antonio “Chito” Tagle was when he burst onto the scene as a cardinal in 2012 that he was a contender for the papacy in 2013 but seen as far too young, and now 12 years later he’s again a serious possibility but in some circles his age, 67, still counts against him.

One of the interesting things to happen after Pope Francis died is that the movie Conclave, which came out last year, has had millions of new viewers online.

The film directed by Edward Berger – and starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini – looks at the intrigue and infighting occurring during the election of a new pope.

Although the movie isn’t very accurate, it highlights the fact that conspiracy theories abound when a conclave is about to take place.

A conclave brings together the cardinals under 80 who are allowed to vote for a pope. Famously, they are mostly sealed in the Sistine Chapel, and if a pope is elected, white smoke will appear at the Vatican. If the pope isn’t elected, then black smoke is seen in the air. A cardinal needs a two-thirds majority to win, although the current regulations allow that to reduce to 50 percent plus-one after the process starts taking too long.

As the world’s most exclusive club prepares to elect the new pope, they are in the midst of an immediate test of just how seriously they will take the issue of clerical sexual abuse due to a Peruvian cardinal who is participating in pre-conclave meetings despite abuse allegations against him.

Peruvian Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, 81, is not eligible to vote in a conclave due to his age, while in 2019 he was subject to restrictions on his ministry imposed by Pope Francis over allegations lodged a year prior that he had sexually assaulted an adolescent boy.

Those sanctions, which Cipriani accepted and signed off on just before turning 75, apparently barred him from the following: wearing his red cardinal robes and other symbols associated with the cardinalate, returning to Peru without permission, making public declarations, and participating in a future conclave while he was still of age to do so.

Mel Gibson’s return to biblical cinema is underway with The Resurrection of the Christ, the long-anticipated sequel to his 2004 epic The Passion of the Christ. This new film, which begins filming in 2026, promises to transcend a straightforward retelling of the Resurrection, instead offering a sweeping, supernatural vision of Christ’s victory over death.

Gibson has described it as an exploration of “another realm” – beginning with the exile of the demons from heaven’s court, descending into hell, and culminating in the glory of the Resurrection.

Given its scope, the film will not follow a typical, linear structure. According to Gibson, it will rather opt for a theologically rich metaphysical approach – one with which those who saw The Passion will be familiar (particularly in the scenes containing Judas or Satan).

As news of Pope Francis’s death broke, increasing numbers of world leaders from across the political and religious spectrums joined in paying tribute to his life and work.

“How appropriate that Pope Francis’s last public appearance was on Easter Sunday as we celebrated the joy of the resurrection of Jesus, whom he loved so deeply and so well, and right after our Jewish brothers and sisters, for whom Pope Francis had such great love, concluded their celebration of Passover. I was honoured to participate in the conclave that elected Pope Francis in 2013, and to have welcomed him here to New York in 2015. He touched us all with his simplicity, with his heart of a humble servant.” Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York

Released on the Fox Nation channel and hosted and narrated by Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese, The Saints series traces the lives of eight historical figures beginning with St Joan, John the Baptist, St Sebastian and Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest who died at Auschwitz. 

The 81-year-old and former New York altar boy, whose Catholic background has permeated his films, said The Saints is the product of a lifelong fascination with Catholic icons which began in childhood.  

Novemdiales Notebook

With the Vatican announcing that the conclave will start on May 7th, Rome is now well into the nine day official period of mourning for a Pope – the “Novemdiales”. The public queue to see the tomb of Pope Francis in the papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore – around three miles from Vatican City, not far from the Colloseum – opens at 7am each morning and the church stays open until 9pm. The line is monitored by uniformed Order of Malta medics and local carabinieri in full uniform.  

By the time I got there at 11am on Monday morning the line was already in the thousands, with the gelaterias and pizza/kebab bars in the fairly shabby tourist area of town doing brisk business from papal mourners wanting water and snacks as they queued for hours in the hot April sunshine. Many were American, with several I queued with having flown over from the US for the papal funeral on Saturday and for the chance to see the tomb of the 266th Holy Pontiff.