Conclave Explaining the Conclave

 

There's an election in the Vatican, soon we'll have another supreme pontiff. The College of Cardinals has released this infographic to explain the composition of the Papal Conclave. I've seen much confusion other its factions, so to help out the damned heathens curious, I've made use of Edward Berger's movie Conclave to make the distinctions more clear.

The Bergoglian Shepherds (I decent name for a band that mixes folk with heavy metal) are the Cardinals who were given that position by Pope Francis. It's a bit like the Mafia and the concept of a `Made Man`. They're expected to support Francis 2.0 in the election. The Progressives are either Cardinals who predate Francis or Bergoglians who moved to support reforms too extreme for Francis, if you're looking for supporters of women as priests and marriage for clergymen they'll probably be amongst that number.

The Peripherals are well the undecided, or moderates or independent voters. They could go either way. If you're curious about the distinction between the Conservatives and the Traditionalists, well to simplify the former run the range between thinking Francis has done enough reforms and changes and no more is needed to wanting to reverse some, or most or even all of Francis' reforms. The Traditionalists meanwhile are the fanatics who despise Vatican II, want to go back to Latin services and probably lament the end of the Inquisition in private.  

I've seen some be surprised that the Cardinals College leans heavily towards reform in some form, with the declared reactionaries being in such a minority. Well, it'd be nice to think this is evidence of a groundswell of progress and reform, the reality is far more mundane. The Pope is the only one who can make someone a Cardinal, and they typically seek to use that power to stack the administration of the Church and weight the Conclave for his successor. Barring a short reign or massive pushback from other quarters, It's typical to see a strong showing for the previous Pope's followers. Francis was Pope for eight years and in addition to stacking vacancies he was proactive in forcing out conservatives in the higher echelons of the church and pushed hard for his people to occupy those positions. 

Behind all the pomp and marble, the Universal Church is a gerrymandered bureaucracy.