With Pope Francis’ death, everyone wants to know —what will the next pope be like? Francis may be gone, but he’s done everything he can to stack the deck and answer that question.

As Francis’ health declined, he ramped up his efforts to secure his legacy of liberal leadership. After appointing 88 cardinals during his 12-year tenure, he added another 20 as his health deteriorated toward the end of 2024. Many of those 20 are outspoken advocates for the LGBTQ+ movement, liberation theology, and dialogue that continues Francis’ push that “all roads lead to Rome.”

Of the 135 men who will vote for the next pontiff, a whopping 80% were appointed by Francis. In keeping with Francis’s liberal leanings, the majority of his appointees are theologically progressive, socially liberal, and culturally in step with the godless 21st-century West. It’s safe to say that the next pope won’t just continue Francis’s agenda—he’ll probably push it even further.

Woke Leadership for a Woke World

The Vatican has long had a pattern: it reflects the spirit of the age. As Europe abandoned their Christian heritage, the Catholic church liberalized. As Western culture adopted a more ungodly moral compass, so did Rome — especially under Francis. Francis’s cardinal picks prove the point.

His most controversial appointee, Timothy Radcliffe, has called same-sex relationships “eucharistic” and encouraged Catholics to embrace morally depraved LGBTQ+ media as part of “spiritual formation.” Tokyo’s Archbishop Kikuchi, another new elector, helped promote LGBT Masses in Japan and contributed to a 2023 book titled LGBT and Christianity. Filipino Bishop Pablo Virgilio David has framed LGBTQ+ protections as a “Christian imperative.” Francis has also included several who openly support Fiducia Supplicans, the declaration permitting informal blessings for same-sex couples.

Francis has also appointed individuals who reflect his vision for a more inclusive and progressive (open to change) Catholic church organization. For example, Archbishop Jean-Paul Vesco from Algeria believes that Catholics should abandon traditional evangelism, while Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio from Peru advocates for removing trained leadership and placing untrained church members in positions of authority.

These final appointments line up with Francis’ progressive end-game moves including meeting with prominent LGBTQ+ women at the Vatican who lobbied for women’s roles in clergy, two interfaith meetings where he stated that every religion leads to God, and his official declaration instructing Catholic seminaries to admit openly gay students.

What’s at Stake?

Francis has ensured that the next pope will continue his progressive, cultural, and theological shift—one that increasingly mirrors godless secular culture. And while the Catholic church has no spiritual bearing on Bible-believing Christians, the organization does have immense political sway around the world.

The next pope is likely to take Francis’ agenda and run with it. The Catholic church will shake hands with an increasingly secularized world and determine they can work together. This will force a continued push toward liberal, woke agenda with the next pope encouraging countries around the world to bend to the new will of the people.

As Bible-believing Christians, it’s our job to share the gospel and inform people of the truth while we still can. While the false Catholic church changes its beliefs to fit the world’s ideology, we can stand firm in sharing the truth as recorded in the King James Bible.

Francis may have stacked the deck, but we know the end of the story. Jesus will return, the Whore of Babylon will fall, and Christ will reign. In the meantime, we need to keep echoing the voice that John heard recorded in Revelation 18:4: Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. The scripture clearly identifies the Vatican as a counterfeit church, the spiritual prostitute of Revelation 17 and 18.

For those of us who still hold fast to Scripture, the rise of this secularized, progressive agenda should only strengthen our resolve to warn Roman Catholics that they have a false hope of eternity.