While we wait for the white smoke to rise over the Sistine Chapel, we ask ourselves: what will be the first words that the new Pope will pronounce from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica? "Brothers and sisters, good evening," like Pope Francis, or "Praised be Jesus Christ," like John Paul II? Or a formula like that of Benedict XVI, who after saying: "After the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord," and added: "In the joy of the risen Lord, trusting in his permanent help, let us move forward. The Lord will help us and Mary, his Most Holy Mother, will be on our side." Certainly, the words and gestures with which the future Pope will inaugurate his pontificate will already reveal a trend, offering a first element of discernment to the sensus fidei of the Catholic people.
Whatever name he takes, will the Pontiff elected by the College of Cardinals want to follow in the footsteps of Francis or break with his pontificate, which many say has been a catastrophe for the Church? The candidacy of Pope Francis' Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, poses serious problems in this respect. In fact, it has never happened in the modern age, with the exception of Pius XII, that a Secretary of State became Pope, because the cardinal electors generally want to emphasize in their choice that each pontificate is different from the previous one.
The assumption of the pontifical office by the former Secretary of State marks instead the greatest possible element of continuity between the old Pope and the new one, due to a certain osmosis that inevitably occurs between the Supreme Pontiff and his first collaborator. If this were to happen, the conclave would be short. And if, on the contrary, the candidacy of Cardinal Parolin, supported by the major mass media, were to fade away, one can foresee a long conclave, in which the different tendencies existing today in the Church would be openly manifested.
How would the mass media react to a conclave that lasted 50 days like that of Gregory XVI or three and a half months like that of Pius VII? A conclave of only 36 days, like that of Pius VII, or even 26 days, like that of Leo XII, would probably be enough to cause pressure and media interference even inside the Sistine Chapel. But the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Truth, does not rush the cardinal electors.
Whoever the new Pope will be, the first fundamental question he will have to face will be that of justice. The emphasis placed on mercy in the pontificate of Pope Francis has caused people to lose sight of not only the meaning of justice, but also of its practical exercise within the Church.
The Church is a social reality that demands and postulates external norms, with the characteristics of law. The set of different laws and rules in force within the Catholic Church constitutes Canon Law, which, of course, has nothing to do with the law of democratic systems, since both the foundation of its power and its exercise are different.
Law is opposed to arbitrariness, which is a consequence of the abandonment of the juridical character of the Church. In the years of the Council and the post-conciliar period, an anti-legal battle has been waged by theologians who claimed to oppose charity to law. But the “Church of charity,” deprived of the objective bulwark of the law, risks turning into a structure in which the strongest prevails.
An example is that is what happened under the pontificate of Francis in the case of many religious communities. The appointment of a commissioner was often followed by a decree of suppression or complete reform of the institution, without providing adequate motivation, in the so-called “specific form,” or with papal approval, without the possibility of appeal. Even with regard to individual priests, the instrument frequently used is not the judicial process, but the administrative penal process introduced by the new code of 1983. The consequence has been vigilantism, in which the law, which should be an instrument of truth, has become an instrument of power on the part of those who administer it. Hence the accusations against Pope Francis of having exercised power in an arbitrary manner.
The problem of justice also concerns the action of the Pope in the difficult international scenario. In the face of war, the voice of the Popes has always been raised to invoke peace, but, in order to obtain true peace – Pius XII taught – national and international life “must start from Christ as its indispensable foundation, be implemented by justice and crowned by charity” (Encyclical Summi Pontificatus, of 20 October 1939).
Generic deplorations of war and abstract appeals for peace are not enough. "Peace at all costs," Pius XII recalled again in his Radio Message to the world on 24 December 1948, encourages the security only of those who are preparing to attack
