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How did pop culture become so invested in the death of a pope and who might be named as his successor?

In the past, popes came and went. Pope Pius XII died when I was a child and there were no celebrity interviews about his relevance. It is doubtful whether the Hollywood stars active at that time knew or cared about the Roman Catholic reins of power.

Imagine Jayne Mansfield, Elizabeth Taylor, Susan Hayward or Marlon Brando critiquing Pius XII’s papacy the same way Joy Behar and the cast of The View deified Pope Francis, praising his welcoming of migrants and encouraging countries the world over to accept anyone who wished to enter their country.

The transformation of the papacy from the ultimate moral authority in Roman Catholicism into a “power source” aligned with the globalist elite, is the doing of Pope Francis. Francis has gutted the papacy and made it so that non-Catholics, atheists, Islamists, pro abortion feminists and callow celebrities now feel they can chime in and give their opinion on who they think his successor should be.

Joy Behar, for instance, who identifies as agnostic and who is generally clueless about Christianity, said she hopes the next pontiff isn’t an anti-gay conservative who will undo all of Francis’ progressive reforms.

Pundits who know next to nothing about Catholicism talk about liberal and conservative (papal candidate) cardinals as if they were weighing in on political primary candidates.

For the last week or so we have been subject to air headed stars waxing about how the next pope should be pro-LGBTQ; how he should allow married priests, women deacons and priests, multiple divorces, remarriage and abortion. The next pope, they say, should continue the progressive revolution started by Francis. The Roman Church should be more like the Episcopal Church: women bishops unafraid to take on U.S. presidents; lesbian bishops who talk about equality, equity and diversity.

Indeed, Francis’ greatest fans-the people who bemoaned his death with the highest emotion-tended to be non-Catholics and anti-Catholics, people who disliked the traditional Roman Catholic Church because it stood in such stark contrast to the values of the modern world.

Yet anytime you have someone like Patti Smith composing eulogy-poems to Pope Francis, you know the pope in question is more a Bishop of Contemporary Mores than one concerned with issues of personal salvation.

Smith posted her mini-poem on Instagram and posted it alongside the photo of a dandelion: “This is a little flower a dandelion humble yet strong. I saw it this morning and was moved. Farewell dear Pope Francis. Nature and poetry and the suffering shall miss their champion.”

‘Champion’ in this case means an advocate for the criminal migrants who have invaded Europe — “Ash hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, Wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulu-Allah” — and the southern border of the United States.  (One of Patti Smith’s most famous eulogy-poems was videotaped years ago at the Moroccan tomb of French novelist Jean Genet, author of the blasphemous novel, Our Lady of the Flowers).

Who can forget how delighted the media was when, in the beginning of Francis’ papacy, it was reported that he had supported the liberation theology movement in South America? As Francis’ pontificate advanced it became abundantly clear the Church that used to be at odds with society, the Church that held the line on so many moral issues, was slowly being “relaxed” into a lighter version of itself.

Lukewarm Catholics fell in love with him, including many priests.

These people hated the Latin Mass, thought the Rosary was old hat, believed Fatima to be a fake (a Francis-style Catholic priest told me years ago that he knew Fatima was a hoax because the Virgin Mary, in his opinion, would never show little children visions of people being tormented in hell).

Generally, these Joe Biden-Francis Catholics support abortion and a woman’s right to choose; they shrug their shoulders at gender ideology and trans issues; they promote every woke narrative promulgated by Democrats. Even heretofore good Catholic institutions like Philadelphia’s American Catholic Historical Society began hosting lectures during Francis’ papacy with woke themes having to do with Black Lives Matter.

The ‘Francis effect’-or the toning down traditional Catholicism-has split the Church in two. In St. Peter’s Basilica, where communion in hand and the wearing of shorts was always forbidden, under Francis’ reign it was given a green light. Men and women in shorts and flip flops now easily stroll through the basilica, while communion in hand is now distributed as irreverently as it is in any average big city parish.

True saints, I imagine, are not really celebrated and “venerated” by the world. When the world declares a pope or any religious leader a hero or a holy man of God, my first impulse is to take out what’s commonly referred to as the Hemingway “shit detector.” This is especially true when celebrities like Whoopi Goldberg — whose only connection to Catholicism was her 1992 role as a nun in the musical crime comedy, Sister Act — praise Pope Francis as a hero, and when headlines like “Tributes [to Pope Francis] are flooding in from Hollywood stars and other celebrities” pass as breaking news.

These are the same stars, after all, who suffer from TDS and are against the deportation of criminal migrants.

Add to this all the Francis tributes from lefty media ideologues like Rachel Madow. Madow  mourned Francis’ passing-“He changed the world, he changed the Church”- while simultaneously praising the time in 2015 when he addressed Congress and stated that the United States should never stop welcoming migrants, no matter the cost.

Madow, a Joe Biden-Francis Catholic, recalled how Pope Francis celebrated Mass in Huarez, Mexico, just across the border from El Paso, Texas, near the area where she says so many migrants “suffered.” Madow invoked what GMA said about Francis’ passing: “He re-imaged the Catholic Church.”

Re-imagine as in shaping a purely social justice Church without doctrine, a Church without rules, a progressive Church where transgender prostitutes can have their tubes of lube blessed before going out on the town; a welcoming Church where no one is judged; a Church that Joy Behar and Whoppi Goldberg can praise.

A host of other stars, of course, joined in the Francis-is-a-saint chorus: Martin Scorsese, Russell Crowe, Jimmy Fallon and Antonio Banderas. Yes, Francis’ death was truly a Hollywood red carpet event.

The Guardian printed these comments from actress Eva Longoria: “Rest in Peace, Your Holiness Pope Francis. Thank you for being an ally to many of us and speaking up for the marginalized. Your compassion, kindness and humility will always be remembered.”

Further proof, as if we needed any, that the Church Francis left us with is no longer about the conversion of the world, but its inclusion.