Spanish Journalist Ended Interview Asking Bergolio An Unexpected Question

The Crux  reported that the pope was interviewed on January 21, 2017, by "the Spanish paper 'El Pais,'" [1] and that "[t]he interview closed with the journalist asking what kind of conclave he’d like to choose his successor, to which Francis said: 'Catholic. That it’s a Catholic conclave that chooses my successor.'" [2]  What prompted the journalist to ask that rather unusual question?  Had the journalist speculated on the possibility that it might not be a Roman Catholic conclave, that it could perhaps be a joint Catholic-Lutheran or a secular conclave?  And when the pope answered "Catholic," did he mean "Roman Catholic" or "catholic" with a small "c" defined as "broad or wide-ranging in tastes, interests, or the like; having sympathies with all; broad-minded; liberal," [3] and as "universal in extent; involving all; of interest to all?" [4]

Bergolio's answer to the follow-up question that ended the interview could possibly be portentous [5]:

“And will you see it?” the journalist asks, implying, but not voicing the possibility of a resignation. 

“This I don’t know,” Francis said. “May God decide. When I feel that I can’t go on anymore, my great teacher Benedict taught me how to do it. And if God takes me before, I’ll see it from the other side. I hope not from hell …”

This blogger hopes that when Bergolio said those last five words quoted above, he did not mean to say them facetiously, as an atheist perhaps would sometimes, but that he truly acknowledged the existence of Hell and feared it. Even if Bergolio was sincere to a small degree when he said them, that means Bergolio had had a moment of honest self-examination of conscience.  This blogger prays that that moment ought to be enough to close the door to Hell.  To not have Satan open it again, to not be beckoned by its cold, slimy index finger gloved with desires that an unfortified and prideful heart would find irresistible, this blogger suggests that Bergolio renounce the world of politics and power and follow the footsteps of his namesake, San Francesco d'Assisi, and be a holy pope.  There is still time.  This blogger also hopes that those were not foreboding words, revealing Bergolio's own inevitable eternity.  Hell is not a place this blogger wishes for any one with whom he has shared this world together as sinners to go, however distant the connection, however unbridgeable the earthly differences, for the pains of Hell are very real and made inescapable by the absence of a second death.


[1] https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/01/21/pope-rips-political-saviors-face-crises-walls-wires/
[2] Ibid.
[3] http://www.dictionary.com/browse/catholic?s=t
[4] Ibid.
[5] https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/01/21/pope-rips-political-saviors-face-crises-walls-wires/