Subtle shift in attitudes toward Papacy brings frantic activity in Avignon
"They thought they had all the time in the world" said John Napolitano the Archbishop of Albany, ENY. "Now the clock is ticking and there's a lot of anxiety."
When the widely acknowledged and historic Pope Leo XIII announced the move of the Church from the unstable Vatican Thread to the stabilized Empire of France, it was widely assumed the church would move with him. The "rump" of ultraconservative Cardinals who refused to leave the Vatican were seen as extremists. Mostly Medieval or Renaissance, they were assumed to be an afterthought. Some went so far as to be glad the Church as a whole had lost them.
While the radicals in the Vatican raced ahead to elect a new Pope, the larger gathering at Avingnon took a slower approach, attempting to address issues of wildly conflicting modern and historical doctrine. Said Napolitano "You can't expect these Cardinals to embrace something because it's modern. To them "modern" is 1865, or 1720, and everything after is wild divergence...error. From their point of view, we're the ones who are fanatics."
There was little sense of urgency at Avingnon. The approach was to tackle the big problems first, then come up with a leader. There was a feeling a leader would emerge naturally from the mix. Many predicted the primitives would fight among themselves and take longer, or elect an incomprehensible Medieval zealot. The election of the Well spoken Jean Paul Liol, Archbishop of Juba as Pope Urban IX was the last thing they expected.
"Liol entered the Church as a political ploy...to consolidate support for his brother as a leader in the South Sudanese Liberation Army. His brother is now President. Liol is a smooth manipulator who understands the politics of AK-47s.
"Now," says Dr. Drew Walters of the Penn State Institute, the situation has become a Public Relations disaster. First of all, it's an Avignon Papacy and that's synonymous in the West with sybaritic excess. Still they could hardly have moved anywhere else. Avignon is the only widely recognized City that held a legitimate Papacy. Nobody is going to pay attention to a Pope seated in Lyons, or Schenectady. But people are calling the man they haven't even elected yet an "Anti-Pope." The only press that's been at all consistent is the Imperial News Service in ENY, and they've been officially warned not to use the term Antipope. It's against policy in the Collegian, but you see it in editorials and quotes. It took a special meeting With Prince Luciano to get the Hearst Syndicate to stop referring to the Avignon group as an "Antipapacy." ParaCentury is indiscriminate about it. They have the majority of the Catholic Church, the overwhelming majority of the Modern Catholic Church, and many heads of state are treating Urban IX as a legitimate Pope.
The situation is complicated by the Recognition of Franz Ferdinand as Holy Roman Emperor, and the subsequent diplomatic sidestep by France which gave the claim a strong patina of legitimacy. The Catholic Church of the Imperial New York Thread of Boston has recognized Pope Urban IX, officially returning to the Catholic fold. "Boston never left the Catholic Church" said Bishop Walter O'Connor. "We chose not to acknowledge the supreme authority of the Archbishop of Albany. We always hoped that a Pope would be found and one was. In his last weeks he made some decisions, in regards to elections, but the Conclave at the Vatican, and only that conclave, has the historic authority to elect a new Pope. They did and it is Urban IX."
"The Vatican group is extremist, the Emperor rules a thread not much bigger than Penn State, but they're being taken seriously around the world. Urban IX is planning state visits to Rising Sun. He's got a very extreme agenda but he's holding out a velvet glove and for the most part people are shaking it.
In the past few weeks voting has begun in earnest for a new Pope at Avingnon. "The situation is being made harder because so much is on the line. If the Archbishop of Albany votes in favor of a Pope, or even participates in the election, he's going to have a hard time stepping away from the result. If that Pope bans the Latin Mass, or strongly pushes against birth control...which ENY largely tolerates...that's going to be problematic.
Four strong contenders have emerged for the Papacy:
Carlos Rehonada, Archbishop of Havana. The Cuban Bishop is a militant adversary of Communism, and led opposition within Cuba to any accomodation for the Sovereign State of New Orleans. The problem for many Western powers is that he's just as strongly opposed to the Federate of Columbia and the Nova Aureliae Dominion. "Recognition by a human government does not make Diabolism acceptable." His outspoken stance has strained his ties with President Batista, and there is fear that he might interdict the Empire of New York for its involvement in the NAD. That said, he is without doubt the only contender who has the personality and presence to match Urban IV on the world Stage. At a speech in Los Angeles he drew a crowd of 49,000...more than the previous World Heavyweight Championship. Rehonada opposes diabolism, but takes a softer line toward Panyu and other Eastern powers. "Where there is a long tradition that deals with local spirits. This is not what God desires. But where is peace, it is a place for Missionaries and teaching, not coercion."
Manuel Ibarrola Archbishop of Los Angeles. Leveraging a reputation for driving some of the negotiations that brokered a surprisingly bloodless end to the Los Angeles Civil War, Ibarrola is considered to be a powerful, effective, and politically adroit statesman. He is not universally adored by his own clergy, some of whom say he betrayed working class Latinos by selling out to the right in the recent struggles. "Where there has been that much animosity for that long," says Ibarrola, "of course there will be adversarial ideas. I am a peacemaker, a compromise builder." Some feel that Ibarrola could be the best bet in the long run. Avoiding showy public rallies or speeches, he has worked largely behind the scenes to build a power block, outflanking the Archbishop of Albany to become the widely presumed favorite of the Modern West. He has close ties to Mitsui-PC, and the Hearst organization, and is probably the most politically capable of the candidates in a modern environment. "There is no doubt he will expand the sphere of the Church," says analyst Theresa Paul. "The question is what he'd do with it. Many see him as Godless, and he may end up bringing larger powers into line, but facing little support from the masses." There seems little suggestion that Ibarrola would make any effort to confront the EBE powers except when secular leaders already strongly supported the move for other reasons.
Jean-Baptiste Rameau, Archbishop of Rheims (French Empire) is the darling of much of the Renaissance and Victorian clergy who did not remain in Vatican City. Rameau has been a formidable and reasoned theologian, and a remarkably effective consensus builder. "He is the most intelligent and best educated man at Avignon," said John Napolitano, who worked with him on a draft concordiat to defer one hundred and twenty "questions of theology to which the approach has differed materially over four centuries." While not formally approved the Concordiat is the primary basis for the Avignon conclave moving forward, agreeing to defer many issues of theology to a new General Council of the Church. It is assumed that its promulgation as a bull would be a necessary part of almost any papal deal, and all the contenders have expressed support for it, though Rehonada has expressed reservations about "any document which would be seen to hinder the authority of the Pope to take direct disciplinary action." Rameau is not a firey speaker, but is a well liked and affable man though he has a reputation for secularism which has caused some disdain even among the most modern churchmen. Whatever his personal pursuits Rameau's theology and knowledge of precedent are flawless, and he has an impressive diplomatic portfolio, having served as a Counselor to the Emperor Napoleon and Ambassador Plenipotentiary before he was elevated to Cardinal. Despite his engaging manner, Rameau has been seen as the darling of the Orthodox elements of the Church, deploring the Vatican II accords and describing the 20th Century Church as "a lost body desperately seeking relevance and compromising itself in unacceptable ways to get it."
John Napolitano Archishop of Albany. Next only to Cardinal Rameau in terms of education and theological knowledge, Cranmer Arcbishop of Albany seemed an obvious choice to lead the Church. He has the support of the powerful Emperor of New York, and by extension Prince Luciano of New York, who as a vampire, a leader who may face almost certain interdiction if Reohnada is elected, and who has every reason to strongly oppose Urban IX. Napolitano is intelligent, scholarly, and seen as a strong compromise builder. He has chaired five of the Committees that have drafted official policy statements and reconciliations in the past two years. As a consensus builder and writer, Napolitano is seen as invaluable. The problem is that many feel the relatively soft spoken and unassuming Napolitano lacks the charisma to rebuild the Papacy. Many oppose the Archbishop on the grounds that he is "the underling and henchman of the Emperor of New York." Napolitano's mild manner may serve him poorly in this case, as Rameau has solid bonafides in the form of two spectacular fights with the Emperor Napoleon, which included a threat to excommunicate his neice, the Marquise de Bellais.
Paul Deufel the mystery man in all of this, has been surprised that he's polled votes. Educated at the Sorbonne, the 84 year old Dufel boasts an extremely strong political portfolio. He was Vice-Chairman for the International Red Cross from 1962-65, and Served as Deputy Papal Envoy to the U.N. in 1967 before the severing. Since he has served on six Presidential Commissions, and served as Ambassador to Manhattan. The elderly Deufel has said that his health is not a problem. "I respect the decision of Pope Leo XIII not to seek life extending medical treatments, however I have no such reservations, and expect to live well past the age of 100, barring misadventure." Duefel has been the leader of the "intellectual liberals," and has stated that he'll reverse bans on female clergy, contraception, and review scientific evidence on abortion, likely allowing it in the first trimester. Influenced by a powerful Paris literary circle he is not seen as particularly close to, or aligned with the French Government, but rather an iconoclast whose theology has broken over the last twenty years from the norms of his own background. Dufel "became a Cardinal largely by accident...a bombing killed a number of churchmen, and I was selected largely because nobody knew me very well. I was considering leaving the Church at the time."
Deufel is more dangerous because he has openly stated he will walk away from any Pope who cannot "address the needs of the modern era." "The people need faith more than the need a Pope," said Deufel. "They need a modern Church that is not mired in the dark ages. If Avignon cannot provide that, I'm not going to stand by and watch it happen." While Deufel does not expect any other Pope to "bring women into the church, I do expect a standard of modernity commensurate with the late 20th century." This has widely been seen as a direct threat to a Victorian Pope as well as as Rehonada. Deufel favors treaties with EBE entities. "Treating EBEs as if they were Demons out of some old religious text is absurd. They are interdimensional alien beings with whom we must deal. Treating them otherwise is no more sensible than treating Africans or Women as Demons."
As voting narrows, it is hard to determine a true "front runner." Rahonda has gained a strong partisanship...were he to fall behind any other candidate it might very well tip the scales. Albany and Los Angeles divide the same voting pool, however there is question if the Emperor of New York can bring himself to support the politically machinistic Ibarrola and fear of what might happen to the Church if he did.
At the far end there is fear that a big shift towards Rameau, or Ibarrola that might prompt a walk out by Deufel and his supporters, throwing the election, but further damaging the Church. The only thing anyone is certain of is that the urgency is growing, and it seems likely that the next few weeks will produce a Pope.
