Can the Pope laicize a whole group all at once?

Gnarwhal · Aug 8, 2022

A few years ago back when Taylor Marshall and Tim Gordon were still friends and doing "TNT" together, they spent the last 20 minutes of an episode going off on this tangent that they called "Tim and Taylors Happy Place" or something and it was all these things they wished would happen under a hypothetical Pius XIII becoming the 267th Pope.

Anyway one of their items was to have the entire college of cardinals surrender their red hats, and then the Pope would return hats to only the good cardinals. Simultaneously purging the bad ones out of the college and shrinking the college back to a more appropriate size of anywhere between 24 like it was limited to after the Council of Basel and 76 like it was raised to 130 years later by Pius IV.

My question is, the college currently something like 229 cardinals. If a really orthodox cutthroat Pius XIII type became Pope after Francis and wanted to completely restore the Church and purge all the heretics out of the college, could he get rid of as many as 153-204 at once then laicize all of them?

WarriorAngel · Aug 8, 2022

spicoli said:
A few years ago back when Taylor Marshall and Tim Gordon were still friends and doing "TNT" together, they spent the last 20 minutes of an episode going off on this tangent that they called "Tim and Taylors Happy Place" or something and it was all these things they wished would happen under a hypothetical Pius XIII becoming the 267th Pope.

Anyway one of their items was to have the entire college of cardinals surrender their red hats, and then the Pope would return hats to only the good cardinals. Simultaneously purging the bad ones out of the college and shrinking the college back to a more appropriate size of anywhere between 24 like it was limited to after the Council of Basel and 76 like it was raised to 130 years later by Pius IV.

My question is, the college currently something like 229 cardinals. If a really orthodox cutthroat Pius XIII type became Pope after Francis and wanted to completely restore the Church and purge all the heretics out of the college, could he get rid of as many as 153-204 at once then laicize all of them?

I suppose naming them individually he could.
It's his position and prerogative.

But he needs a rap sheet of sorts. It's not something ya do willy nilly.

Petros2015 · Aug 8, 2022

spicoli said:
could he get rid of as many as 153-204 at once then laicize all of them?

But isn't the College of Cardinals what elects the Pope?
Thus making it unlikely that any Pope who would do that sort of thing to them would be elected.
And extremely rude if he did

WarriorAngel · Aug 8, 2022

Petros2015 said:
But isn't the College of Cardinals what elects the Pope?
Thus making it unlikely that any Pope who would do that sort of thing to them would be elected.
And extremely rude if he did

only if we were to worry about mans opinions, i suppose.

pdudgeon · Aug 8, 2022

Petros2015 said:
But isn't the College of Cardinals what elects the Pope?
Thus making it unlikely that any Pope who would do that sort of thing to them would be elected.
And extremely rude if he did

I think that a Pope who is already elected can do as he wants, and change things as he sees fit.

Gnarwhal · Aug 8, 2022

WarriorAngel said:
I suppose naming them individually he could.
It's his position and prerogative.

But he needs a rap sheet of sorts. It's not something ya do willy nilly.

Most definitely. I would assume the incoming Pope would have done his due diligence before he sets to work on that sorta thing, maybe with a team of trusted advisors.

If it were me I'd even promote some young priests all the way up to cardinal to inject both youth and orthodoxy back into the Vatican. Like Fr. Mike Schmitz, Fr. Dave Nix, and I'd like to see some young representation from the different societies (including the SSPX if something can be worked out to both sides satisfaction to bring them back into the fold). At least, as young is permitted - I think the minimum age is 35 years old with five years in the priesthood.

Petros2015 said:
But isn't the College of Cardinals what elects the Pope?
Thus making it unlikely that any Pope who would do that sort of thing to them would be elected.
And extremely rude if he did

Yes they are, but Francis has already done something like this just in the opposite direction. He's stacked the deck to ensure his successors are just like he is. So unless God reaches down again and writes the name of his successor on a wall for all to see that's what's going to happen.

Frankly rudeness doesn't play into it. There are plenty of Cardinals whom they shouldn't stop at laicizing but they should also excommunicate and probably hang them from the obelisk in Saint Peter's Square for compromising the Church so badly. Cupich comes to mind.

chevyontheriver · Aug 8, 2022

spicoli said:
A few years ago back when Taylor Marshall and Tim Gordon were still friends and doing "TNT" together, they spent the last 20 minutes of an episode going off on this tangent that they called "Tim and Taylors Happy Place" or something and it was all these things they wished would happen under a hypothetical Pius XIII becoming the 267th Pope.

Anyway one of their items was to have the entire college of cardinals surrender their red hats, and then the Pope would return hats to only the good cardinals. Simultaneously purging the bad ones out of the college and shrinking the college back to a more appropriate size of anywhere between 24 like it was limited to after the Council of Basel and 76 like it was raised to 130 years later by Pius IV.

My question is, the college currently something like 229 cardinals. If a really orthodox cutthroat Pius XIII type became Pope after Francis and wanted to completely restore the Church and purge all the heretics out of the college, could he get rid of as many as 153-204 at once then laicize all of them?

Some of those are honorific cardinals, usually much older, and non-voting. Not much to be concerned about there.

As to the voting cardinals, you don't get to be a cardinal when you're young. So lots of them will age out. Give it ten years and about half will age out. So there is that 'biological solution' going for us. The need is to pick great men for the job and pick them when they are about 60 rather than 70.

I might like having the cardinals submit resignations, but the problem would be if Francis II is elected and does that, then we get Francis III and Francis IV and Francis V. It COULD happen. I don't want to contemplate it.

Besides, if a cardinal resigns or is forced to resign that leaves him as an archbishop or a bishop, not as a lay person.

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Can the Pope laicize a whole group all at once?

Gnarwhal

☩ Broman Catholic ☩

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WarriorAngel

I close my eyes and see you smile

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Petros2015

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WarriorAngel

I close my eyes and see you smile

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pdudgeon

Traditional Catholic

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Gnarwhal

☩ Broman Catholic ☩

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chevyontheriver

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