New Arch-Patriarch elected following extended and difficult conclave 9 September 4840After a highly unusual and controversial meeting of the College of Cardinals in Ville de Saints, a new Arch-Patriarch has been elected. The conclave lasted over a week and was reportedly among the most fractious and bitter in millennia. In the end it was the Kanjorien Franck Jauffret who was elected by the cardinals in what was believed to be a hard fought compromise between a number of competing interests. The new Arch-Patriarch has announced that he will take the archpatriarchal name Gabriel XV.
Though there have always been tension within the Church, particularly as secularisation threatens their role in liberal democracies across the globe, the nature of the most recent conclave is the result of two related factors: the controversial legacy of the recently deceased Holy Father, and the exodus of the Arch-Patriarch from Auroria. For almost half a century the Arch-Patriarch has been forced to reside in Ville de Saints while a coalition between pagan conservatives and the radical left has spread anti-Hosian bigotry throughout Selucia.
Within the Church and particularly in Selucia, many are furious at the lack of resistance to the Selucian government from the previous Arch-Patriach but the nature of the archpatriarchal office made it difficult and potentially risky to express these frustrations. As a result the most recent conclave provided an outlet for this anger from a group of cardinals who have been- somewhat pejoratively- referred to as "hawks". The relative strength of this group is difficult to determine given the clandestine nature of the conclave.
Complicating the matter is an emboldened liberal faction within the Church. Fuelled by the progressive movements in the schismatic "
Selucian Aurorian Church", a minority group of cardinals attempted to stall the election of the new Arch-Patriarch by repeatedly voting for the long-serving Endralonian cardinal Selmir Benedik, who made it known he would not accept the office.
Commentators and journalists have identified the lack of direction in the conservative elements of the Church hierarchy, who have been split on their approach to the Arch-Patriarch's exodus from Selucia. While some support the hawks, many are deeply averse to the notion of challenging a national government and fear that it may expose the weakness of Church institutions. In the end it seems that the latter faction won out and ironically appear to have struck a deal with liberals in favour of the inoffensive Jauffret to avoid further bad blood.
Regardless of the machinations that precipitated the ascension of this Arch-Patriach, he faces an unprecedented challenge if he is to restore trust in the Church throughout the world and reverse the trends that have eroded Hosian values over the past two centuries. At sixty-nine years old, the new Arch-Patriarch is considerably older than his predecessor was when he took office but he is still relatively young by archpatriarchal standards. More than anything though, he will require a firm will to face up to the challenges ahead.
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