The Next Pope’s Agenda

With Pope Francis in critical condition and an extraordinary consistory approaching, the Church faces a decisive moment. We pray for his health and perseverance, yet his waning strength suggests his pontificate may soon end. The consistory could serve as a prelude for a conclave.

Will the next pope hold Pope Francis accountable for his actions of causing harm to the Deposit of the Faith? While we embrace Jesus’ infinite mercy, it is important to recognize that His justice serves as a counterbalance. History recalls this stark precedent when Pope Stephen VI conducted the Cadaver Synod. In 897, Pope Stephen VI had the body of his predecessor, Pope Formosus, exhumed and put on trial. Formosus’ corpse was dressed in papal vestments and propped up on a throne while Stephen VI accused him of perjury and other crimes. The trial ended with Formosus being found guilty, his papacy declared null, and his body thrown into the Tiber River. Such a spectacle won’t likely recur—nor would anyone want it to, but the next Supreme Pontiff must grapple with the past 13 years, and find a way to undo the actions that have damaged the Deposit of the Faith.

The next pope will have his work cut out for him. In large measure he should take a page out of the Trump plan of action and un-do the harm done by the enshrined acts of Pope Francis’ magisterial arm. We pray the cardinals allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten them to select a pope like Cardinal Sarah or Cardinal Mueller and possess the courage and knowledge to correct Pope Francis’s errors and to clarify what has been obscured.

Below is a prioritized list of that must be taken by a new Holy Father to put the Church back on a solid footing.

1. Reverse Traditionis Custodes—Restore the Traditional Latin Mass

Pope Francis’s Traditionis Custodes restricted the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), a rite with roots dating back to the second century and considered a bulwark of orthodoxy. The rite is seen as the living heartbeat of the Church’s liturgical heritage. By limiting its use and portraying its adherents as opposed to Vatican II and as extremists, this decree attempts to destroy a liturgical treasure that has served as a firewall against heresy because it is permeated with its explicit reverence especially in respect to the Real Presence.. The next pope should repeal this measure, reviving the TLM to ground the Church in its heritage and reconcile divisions over liturgy.

2. Retract Fiducia Supplicans—Clarify Blessings and Morality

Fiducia Supplicans allows blessings for same-sex couples, a step that—despite its “non-liturgical” caveat—risks implying approval of grave moral disorder. This pastoral disaster opens the door to misinterpreting the Church as “blessing sin”, despite its “non-liturgical” framing. It is a scandal that normalizes grave moral disorder in the public eye. The next pope must rescind this declaration, restoring doctrinal precision to avoid scandal and confusion.

3. Correct Amoris Laetitia—Uphold Sacramental Integrity

Amoris Laetitia* via footnote 351 and subsequent interpretations, permits Communion for the divorced and remarried without annulment without requiring the practice of continence, This new “pastoral practice” is a serious divergence from the Council of Trent, Familiaris Consortio, and unbroken Church tradition. This “permission” weakens moral theology and sacramental order. The new pope should deliver a clear correction, reaffirming the need for the divorced and remarried to get an annulment before receiving the Eucharist and abstaining from conjugal relations until they do.

4. Terminate the China Agreement—Defend the Chinese Catholic Faithful

In 2018, the Vatican entered into a provisional agreement with China on appointing bishops, renewed in 2020 and 2023. This agreement allowed China to nominate bishops, subject to papal approval, for the purported reason of working for unification. In addition, Pope Francis lifted the excommunication of communist bishops, and thereby legitimized the government-controlled Church in China. The Vatican encouraged the underground Church to register with the state, which led to coercion and arrests of priests. Pope Francis remained silent on religious repression, destruction of churches, imprisonment of priests, and forced worship under a communist structure. Crucifixes were removed and replaced with a picture of Xi Jingping. Cardinal Zen has ardently argued that the Vatican has sold out Chinese Catholics to the atheist regime, thereby risking their annihilation. Ongoing abductions and demolitions of churches continue, and the CCP is emboldened. The next Pope must terminate this agreement to protect spiritual freedom and the Church’s moral witness, as the Vatican is ceding authority to an atheist state which demands loyalty to its ideology over worship of the true God.

5. Restore the John Paul II Institute and Pontifical Academy for Life

The next pope must reconstitute the John Paul II Institute (JPII) and reinstate its original mission. It must purge the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAL) of appointees who do not defend Sacred Scripture and Tradition. During Pope Francis’ pontificate, the JPII Institute shifted away from protecting marriage, family, and the unborn with an emphasis on theology and foccused iinstead on “family sciences.” This secular approach diluted mission of the JPII Institute. Pope Francis purged the faculty by replacing traditional moral theologians with voices aligned with his exhortation Amoris Laetitia. Under new leadership, the JPII Institute introduced courses undermining sacred tradition, such as couses on gender studies, contraception, and homosexuality. Additionally, within the Pontifical Academy of Life an ardent abortion advocate, Mariana Mazzucato, was appointed and they published a book proposing a paradigm shift to accept contraception as Catholics, directly opposing the longstanding moral theology of Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae forbidding contraception.

6. Rescind Fratelli Tutti—Realign Social Teaching

Fratelli Tutti, in accord with the #1 priority of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto suggests private property is not an absolute. Fratelli Tutti, the Church’s modern socialist manifesto, in advocating for open borders, and espousing secular communistic ideologies, strays from Catholic social doctrine. The next pope should withdraw it,

7. Address the Abu Dhabi Document—Reassert Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life

The 2019 Document on Human Fraternity issued from Abu Dhabi suggests God wills a “plurality of religions,” a phrase that raises concerns of indifferentism and threatens to diminish Christ’s sole salvific role. Though not magisterial, its influence challenges the truth that Catholicism is the one truth faith. The next pope should disavow this text and, reaffirm the exclusivity of Catholic truth against syncretism.

8. Reframe Laudato Si—Focus on Stewardship, Not Ideology

Laudato Si elevates climate change and “Mother Earth” language beyond stewardship into near-doctrinal status. The next pope should revise or retract it, present a balanced call to care for creation which does not suggest idolatrous notions and ideological overreach.

9. Halt Synodality Shifts—Maintain Traditional Roles

The “Synodality” document approved by Pope Francis expands roles for women and laypeople in the Church and leaves open the discussion on women being ordained to the diaconate. We have seen recent Vatican female leadership appointments, such as the naming of Sr. Raffaella Petrini in 2025 as Secretary General of the Governate of Vatican City State, replacing a cardinal. These actions challenge the Church’s longstanding hierarchy and traditional roles. Since the Synodality document left open the possibility for future women deacons, we lack doctrinal clarity from the pope. To be clear, the next Pontiff should refrain from appointing women to leadership roles within the Church, remove female high level Vatican appointees, and resolve this issue once and for all by sending a strong message that there shall be no women priests or deacons ordained in the Catholic Church.

10. Clarify Gaudete et Exsultate—Distinguish Doctrine from Opinion

Gaudete et Exsultate in equating abortion with immigration, uses the seamless garment argument. This conflation of magisterial truth with political opinion—echoed in broader “social justice” trends—confuses the faithful. A restatement would separate immutable doctrine from prudential judgments and restore the hierarchy of goods. One cannot equate abortion, an intrinsic evil, with immigration, a very prudential matter.

11. Repudiate the Amazonian Syncretism—Reject Pagan Influences

Querida Amazonia and the Pachamama episode which blended Catholic worship with idolatrous indigenous practices, offended God and violated the First Commandment. The next pope should denounce these idolatrous acts, in order to ensure Catholics and the world clearly realize that “thou shall have no strange gods besides God”.

12. Revise the Catechism on the Death Penalty —Preserve Doctrinal Continuity

The 2018 Catechism change deeming the death penalty “inadmissible” clashes with Scripture (e.g., Genesis 9:6, Romans 13:4) and Tradition (e.g., St. Thomas Aquinas), and thus clashes with doctrine. The next pope should restore the earlier wording, which recognizes the state’s authority in this prudential matter.

13. Reconsecrate St. Peter’s Altar—Restore Sacred Dignity

The 2019 display of Pachamama symbols on St. Peter’s main altar desecrated a holy space. The next pope should publicly reconsecrate it, thereby signaling a return to reverence and renewing trust at the Church’s core.

14. Disavow the Covid Vaccine Mandate Stance—Respect Conscience

The Pope and the Vatican’s 2021 heavy-handed authoritarian push for COVID-19 vaccines divided Catholics and encroached on personal conscience in a non-doctrinal area. The next pope should retract this position, thereby affirming individual freedom.

Additional Steps:

• Laicize all clergy confirmed to have committed sexual abuse (e.g., Rupnik).
• Address moral scandals among cardinals, such as immoral and scandalous gatherings (e.g., orgies).
• Restore solemnity to papal audiences
• Appoint prelates committed to the Deposit of the Faith.
• Refocus on evangelization , not social activism.
• Emphasize evangelization over ecumenical outreach.
• Engage in ecumenism without downplaying Catholic dogma and doctrine, emphasizing the Catholic Church as the one true faith.

The Church stands at a crossroads. The next pope must work to heal the wounds of the past 13 years. The path forward demands a courageous return to safeguarding the Deposit of the Faith, to undoing the ambiguous statements that appear to condone sin and which have blurred doctrine, and to restoring the TLM and promoting reverent liturgy, By prioritizing these actions to renew the Church’s moral and spiritual clarity, the new Supreme Pontiff can restore trust, refocus on Christ’s salvific mission, and guide the faithful out of a painfully fractured period in the Church. We entrust this moment to the Holy Spirit, as we pray for a shepherd who will not shrink from the task, but rise to meet it with unwavering fidelity.