Look for more volcanic activity in Italy—epicenter, the Vatican.  The Times of London is reporting that a group of pro-Francis Cardinals is lobbying for the pope’s resignation.  Bold emphasis is mine:

A group of cardinals who supported the election of Pope Francis are worried that his controversial reforms are leading the Catholic church towards a schism and are planning to appeal to him to step down, a leading Vatican watcher has claimed.“A large part of the cardinals who voted for him is very worried and the curia . . . that organised his election and has accompanied him thus far, without ever disassociating itself from him, is cultivating the idea of a moral suasion to convince him to retire,” Antonio Socci wrote in the Italian newspaper Libero.

The conservative Catholic author and journalist said that the election four years ago of Jorge Mario Bergoglio had been backed by progressive German cardinals and a curia faction impatient with the rule of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.  It was the latter faction who now believed that the Pope should resign and who would like to replace him with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, Mr Socci said. He believed that the group numbered around a dozen, “but the importance of the members counts more than their number”.

“Four years after Benedict XVI’s renunciation and Bergoglio’s arrival on the scene, the situation of the Catholic church has become explosive, perhaps really on the edge of a schism, which could be even more disastrous than Luther’s [who is today being rehabilitated by the Bergoglio church],” Mr Socci wrote.  What was significant, he said, was that the doubters were not the conservative cardinals who had been in open opposition to the Pope since early in his reign.

. . . .

The Pope’s openings to modernity on sexual morality, communion for remarried Catholics and friendly relations with other religions have opened a gulf between progressives and traditionalists.

“A good number of the majority that voted for Bergoglio in 2013 have come to regret their decision,” one expert on the Vatican said, “but I don’t think it’s plausible that members of the hierarchy will pressure the Pope to resign. Those who know him know it would be useless. [He] has a very authoritarian streak. He won’t resign until he has completed his revolutionary reforms, which are causing enormous harm.”

Source: Anti-reform cardinals ‘want the Pope to quit’ | World | The Times & The Sunday Times

So a group in the curia “would like to replace him with Cardinal Pietro Parolin.”  Well that’s nice.  I wonder if they intend to give the College of Cardinals a say in the matter? I can see the protest Cardinals now, with their red caps emblazoned with the words, “Make the Vatican Great Again!”

No seriously,  I am praying for our church and the pope.  I hope you will do the same. JG