Not everyone is thrilled with the acceleration of geographic diversity and the new crop entrusted to decide the future of the Roman Catholic Church.
Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller of Germany, a conservative who used to run the church’s office on doctrine before Francis fired him from that job, recalled a meeting during Francis’ pontificate when one of the new guys — “a cardinal of 25 Catholics in an isle in the South Sea” — came into a subcommittee meeting.
“He said three things,” Cardinal Müller said. “First, I don’t speak English. Second, I know nothing of theology. And third, I didn’t know why they made me cardinal. Now he is a voter of the pope.”