Will Cardinals Reject a Call for Church Unity? by Phil Lawler 

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, May 06, 2025

Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org.

Among the thousands of articles that have been written in the past few weeks, analyzing whom the College of Cardinals will consider in the papal conclave, perhaps the most enlightening is this New York Times report by Jason Horowitz, who discovers that the call for Church unity has become controversial.

”It is hard to imagine a less offensive rallying cry” than the call for unity, Horowitz remarks at the start of his report; “but in the ears of Francis’ most committed supporters, it rings as a code word for rolling back Francis’ more inclusive vision of the Roman Catholic Church.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the role of the Roman Pontiff is to unite the faithful. The Pope, the Catechism says—quoting Lumen Gentium, a foundational document of Vatican II—is the “visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful.” …

Continue reading >>>>>>>>>>>