How Gay Is the College of Cardinals Gathering to Choose New Pope?

A conservative cardinal, shunned by late Pope Francis, warns his peers not to behave like the those in the hit film "Conclave." In Edward Berger's Vatican-based drama, the college of cardinals is more akin to an old school political backroom at a national convention with contenders strategizing to beat their opponents to be appointed the new pope.

"It's not a power game played by stupid people looking to manipulate, like in this film, which has nothing to do with reality," German cardinal Gerhard Müller said in a report from the Times of London.

Nonetheless, he chose to take a stand against the so-called "gay lobby," without specifying if he meant one within the cardinals who gather to elect the cardinals next week, or in society at large. In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Müller said: "If Jesus says that marriage is between a man and a woman and is indissoluble, no pope can change this doctrine. The homosexual lobbies want to equate unions between people of the same sex to marriage, but this totally contradicts the doctrine of the Bible. We can discuss concrete, individual pastoral care for individuals, to guide them to Christian life, but we cannot accept gender ideology, which is contrary to the doctrine of the Church."

The notion that there exists a "gay lobby" within the Church was something cited by the late Pope himself when he used the vulgar term "frociaggine" last year at a private meeting to describe the large numbers of gay men in the seminaries. The term was translated in English-speaking reports as "faggotry," which the Pope later said he didn't mean when he issued a public apology, saying the use of the word was never meant to be discriminatory.

Müller doesn't specifically say this "gay lobby" is within the college of cardinals, or the Church itself; instead claims that they will publicly influence the group. And the late Pope saw to it they would be more liberal than conservative. "Nearly 80 per cent of the 135 cardinals eligible to vote may have been picked by Francis, pointing to a potential liberal majority, but the views of many will not be known until they mingle with fellow cardinals at the pre-conclave meetings known as general congregations," reports The Times.

But a Belgian expert on the Vatican dropped a bombshell over the weekend saying that most of the Cardinals choosing the new pope are gay, reports The Times of London in a separate report.

Rik Torfs, a professor of canon law at the Catholic University on Leuven, claims that most of the Roman Catholic cardinals who will choose the new pope are gay, despite the church's doctrine that homosexuality is sinful.

"A paradoxical situation remains," Torfs said about Francis's legacy as reported by the Times. "On the one hand, homosexual relations are considered sinful but on the other, a significant percentage – probably the majority – of cardinals are homosexual."

Torfs is a liberal critic of cardinals like Müller, and that Müller had issues with the late Pope is well-known. He was the head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (basically the Church's top doctrinal office), but in 2017 when the position was up for renewal, Pope Francis refused to do so in what was considered an extraordinary move. Müller said he was given no specific reason, but it was believed by some as a way of Pope Francis limiting the power of conservative elements, as well as punishing a Cardinal who openly criticized him on doctrine. In 2013 when Pope Francis famously said, "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?", he ushered in a more open attitude towards the LGBTQ+ community. And though never changed doctrine, in 2023 he issued pastoral blessings for same-sex couples, which did not bless their unions as marriage.

Müller spoke out strongly against this. "It is an obvious heresy to bless objectively sinful behavior." And he considered it a "trick" that would inevitably lead to the Church condoning same-sex unions. "The authors of the document are trying to trick people by pretending that blessing a couple is not blessing their relationship," he said.

That Müller is speaking out so strongly about this issue this week is seen to be his attempt to influence what he sees as at the very least a move against the Church's doctrine that homosexual behavior is "intrinsically disordered" and always morally unacceptable. Homosexuals are not to be condemned, but welcomed within the Church, but they need not to act on their desires; and same sex unions are condemned by the church.

Müller has said same sex unions are "obviously against Church doctrine", adding: "God instituted the matrimony of one man and one woman and we cannot change that."