Berlin, Germany (Weltexpress). In Rome, it is expected that US President Donald J. Trump, who is attending Francis’ funeral, will put pressure on the conclave to elect a successor who is close to the US. According to the news agency “ANSA”, he is primarily in Rome to put pressure on the conclave with the massive support of the Catholic base in America for the election of a successor who is acceptable to him. It is no secret that Francis’ pontificate was a thorn in the side of the Trump administration. The Argentine pope was showered with fierce criticism: starting with the idea that he wanted to build walls to keep out migrants, he was a “globalist,” anti-Western pontiff and champion of the South, the world of the poor on all continents.
Christian historian Massimo Faggioli, professor at Villanova University in Pennsylvania and author of the recently published book From God to Trump, explained that ‘it is about rebuilding a political and intellectual project, an “American-style” Catholicism ,’ in which influence over the conclave represents a power of a financial, intellectual and educational nature that extends beyond the papacy.
All eyes are on New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, whose number of supporters has grown recently. The 75-year-old cardinal, who is a long-time supporter of Trump and also has a good personal relationship with the president, prayed at his inauguration, ‘Grant wisdom to our leader, for he is your servant.’ Appointed auxiliary bishop by John Paul II in 2001 and archbishop of Wisconsin a year later, Dolan has been part of the conservative church leadership in the United States ever since. Rumour has it that he was already a rival to Francis after Benedict XVI’s resignation in 2013. His current election could be favoured by his publicly demonstrated manoeuvring between liberals and conservatives, and he could be chosen as a so-called ‘man of compromise.’
