(LifeSiteNews) — On this episode of Faith and Reason, LifeSiteNews journalists Frank Wright and Stephen Kokx discuss the upcoming conclave, the election prospects of liberal Cardinals Parolin and Zuppi, the civil war between former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Prime Minister Keir Starmer over globalist net zero policies, new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s radical agenda, Israel’s continued genocide in Gaza, and more.

The panel opened the episode by discussing the upcoming conclave, which starts May 7, focusing on some of the liberal frontrunners speculated to have a high probability of being elected, first looking at Pietro Parolin, who served as Vatican Secretary of State under Francis’ Vatican.

Kokx emphasized that Parolin is particularly problematic because he has no pastoral experience, has had his hand in many disastrous Vatican diplomatic affairs, and perhaps most glaringly has been endorsed by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

“[Parolin’s] obviously endorsed by Rabbi Shmuley, a problematic American rabbi who has been trying to cancel ‘Christ is King’ supporter, Candace Owens, in the last several years, who also had his hand years ago in the Michael Jackson affair, as well. So that’s a bit problematic,” Kokx noted.

READ: Rabbi who attacked Candace Owens is supporting Cardinal Parolin as the next pope

Kokx also highlighted that Parolin has made some decisions since Francis’ death that may have sunk his chances of garnering enough votes.

“Just this week, [Parolin] had a Mass in St. Peter’s, and he wore Francis’ miter… A lot of people saw that as presumptive and a bit arrogant,” Kokx mentioned. “I saw reporting that the Cardinal electors who were present for [the Mass] sort of viewed it as a bit ‘stilted,’ and that he didn’t connect with the audience, and basically that was an audition, that he might have failed.”

Wright jumped in to underscore the importance of whoever gets elected actually being Catholic, then asked Kokx why Shmuley decided to have that recent audience with Parolin, noting that this was not the rabbi’s first trip to the Vatican.

Kokx stressed that Shmuley has made these visits, including one as news was breaking about Francis dying, to try and convince Vatican officials to acknowledge Jewish sovereignty over the Holy Land.

“As news was breaking that Francis was dying, Shmuley recorded himself on an airplane flying to the Vatican as a sort of last-ditch effort to actually convince him to say, ‘Please grant the Jews, the Jewish people, sovereignty over, he didn’t call it the Holy Land, but he said, of Israel,” he said. “And that’s sort of a very quite disturbing move, and it reflects, I think, the character of this man.”

READ: Could Cardinal Parolin be validly elected pope?

“And obviously, this is something that… the great popes of the past, St. Pius X himself, as well as his successor…. Benedict XV, in the 1910s and 20s, said, ‘No, this land belongs to Jesus Christ, who soiled this land with his blood,’” he added.

Wright reminded listeners that Shmuley has been heavily involved in promoting both secular and religious Zionism.

“Shmuley has actually authored a book called Kosher Jesus, in which he does attempt to present this case to Catholics and to Christians that the Jews should be given Israel, or rather, it should be seen that Israel is God’s gift to the Jewish people,” he said. “This is effectively the central claim of secular and now religious Zionism, and if you trace it through, you will see that it undermines the origins of the claims of the Catholic Church to be true.”

“So this is a very significant development, should Parolin become Pope, of course… It’s fair enough for Rabbi Shmuley to press the customs and the calls of his tribe.”

Later in the episode, Kokx also discussed Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who is considered another liberal frontrunner to take over from Francis. Zuppi serves as the president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) and served as a Vatican diplomat during the Russia-Ukraine war. The journalist highlighted the scandal of Zuppi overseeing the wedding of a former Master Mason despite membership in Freemasonry being condemned and carrying with it the penalty of automatic excommunication.

READ: Cardinal Zuppi could be pope: who is he?

“[Zuppi] himself oversaw the marriage… of a former Master Mason… I don’t know if it was a Catholic wedding or not, but the man who was a Mason got married, Zuppi did the wedding, and that was in 2000,” he said. “And two years later, in 2022, Francis said he appointed him the president of the Italian Bishops Conference. So, you see the sort of nepotism at play there, and it raises questions about the connections to Masons, especially with Zuppi and what might be happening later on in the church after this conclave.”

For more discussion on potential freemasonic and globalist infiltration on the upcoming conclave and much more, tune in to this episode of Faith and Reason.

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