Who will he be? Papal thoughts

Little known is that you don’t have to be a priest to be the Pope.I have 18 years of Catholic education, six with the Jesuits, so why don’t I throw a red hat in the ring? I can wear a red sash, no, too Trumpian, with the best of them.And the red velvet shoes that the previous pope, Benedict XVI, wore, probably still wears, maybe not so much.

Years back, sitting in the lobby of the Palmer House hotel in Chicago with two pals, imbibing per usual,suddenly the noise shuts up.And in strolls the Cardinal, Francis George, with an entourage of young priests flanking him on all sides.Even those of us who thought he was an oppressive repressive yahoo were stopped in silence and awe. We were, somehow, in the presence of royalty.And quickly smoothly this presence became absence.

In 2024, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Blaise Cupich who succeeded George.Cupich had hit 75 and was required to submit his resignation.The Pope is not required to accept it, which he did not.Blaise, a pretty cool dude.Uncomfortable in the Cardinal’s traditional mansion, right down the street from the original Playboy club, the ghost of Hefner striding the Gold Coast of Chicago’s wealthy self,Blaise did not live in the papal mansion as did George and his predecessors, but rather in an apartment, 945 square feet, in Holy Name Cathedral near Chicago’s Loop.

Before being named Cardinal, Archbishop Cupich, in a first official act, visited three churches — one Black, one Latino and oneCentral European. Cupich was born into a Croatian family of nine and speaks six languages.

So who will Blaise vote for? His saint’s name is after the patron of throat health.(My pal Patrick Lynch of Sharon had throat cancer earlier in his life and succumbed recently to various complications.)

Will he vote for one of two African Cardinals, one a rabid homophobe or the other, Cardinal Antoine Kamabanda, who is Rwandan. The latter lost most of his family to the genocide of the Hutus by the Tutsis. (The Tutsis are tall, the Hutus are short, so of course the Hutus had to be exterminated.)

Or the Filipino, Luis Antonio Tagle, known as the Asian Francis.Luis has Spanish names, as do many Filipinos.

A close friend, steeped in Jesuiticisms, said —What did Francis, a Jesuit, do? Nothing for women, never explicitly promoting LGBTQ rights (“Who am I to say?” when asked about gay priests, a quote quoted roundly round the globe.)

I, falling on the thorns of bleeding platitudes, responded, Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. And Francis, by any account, was a good man.

I dare say we don’t want Our Dear Leader who is pictured dressed like the Pope.More to the point, his backside showing his corpulent handles swinging a golf club, his shirt hiked up revealing the tattoo with MS-13. That’s it! Send him to Cecot, the Venezuelan paradise, where Senor Garcia awaits, bolo in hand.

Not even Francis would wish that on him.

Eager to see the white smoke and hear Habemus Papam!



Lonnie Carter is a playwright, Obie winner and his signature play is “The Sovereign State of Boogedy Boogedy.”

The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Lakeville Journal and The Journal does not support or oppose candidates for public office.

Latest News

State intervenes in sale of Torrington Transfer Station

The entrance to Torrington Transfer Station.

Photo by Jennifer Almquist

TORRINGTON — Municipalities holding out for a public solid waste solution in the Northwest Corner have new hope.

An amendment to House Bill No. 7287, known as the Implementor Bill, signed by Governor Ned Lamont, has put the $3.25 million sale of the Torrington Transfer Station to USA Waste & Recycling on hold.

Keep ReadingShow less
Juneteenth and Mumbet’s legacy
Sheffield resident, singer Wanda Houston will play Mumbet in "1781" on June 19 at 7 p.m. at The Center on Main, Falls Village.
Jeffery Serratt

In August of 1781, after spending thirty years as an enslaved woman in the household of Colonel John Ashley in Sheffield, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Freeman, also known as Mumbet, was the first enslaved person to sue for her freedom in court. At the time of her trial there were 5,000 enslaved people in the state. MumBet’s legal victory set a precedent for the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts in 1790, the first in the nation. She took the name Elizabeth Freeman.

Local playwrights Lonnie Carter and Linda Rossi will tell her story in a staged reading of “1781” to celebrate Juneteenth, ay 7 p.m. at The Center on Main in Falls Village, Connecticut.Singer Wanda Houston will play MumBet, joined by actors Chantell McCulloch, Tarik Shah, Kim Canning, Sherie Berk, Howard Platt, Gloria Parker and Ruby Cameron Miller. Musical composer Donald Sosin added, “MumBet is an American hero whose story deserves to be known much more widely.”

Keep ReadingShow less
A sweet collaboration with students in Torrington

The new mural painted by students at Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut.

Photo by Kristy Barto, owner of The Nutmeg Fudge Company

Thanks to a unique collaboration between The Nutmeg Fudge Company, local artist Gerald Incandela, and Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut a mural — designed and painted entirely by students — now graces the interior of the fudge company.

The Nutmeg Fudge Company owner Kristy Barto was looking to brighten her party space with a mural that celebrated both old and new Torrington. She worked with school board member Susan Cook and Incandela to reach out to the Academy’s art teacher, Rachael Martinelli.

Keep ReadingShow less