A cardinal of the Catholic Church going viral for singing John Lennon’s “Imagine” was not on this year’s bingo card.
Pope Francis’s death on Easter Monday sent shockwaves around the world, with around 250,000 visitors flooding St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican to say goodbye to the progressive pontiff. As the Vatican readies for the conclave, speculations on who might take over the highest role in the Catholic Church is on the rise.
But on TikTok, users have already chosen their favorite contender: Filipino prelate Luis Antonio Tagle.
Videos of Tagle—a liberal-leaning front runner for pope referred to as “Asian Francis”—resurfaced in the days following the pope’s passing announcement, aimed to paint the contender in a bad light.
The caption of a video posted by a conservative news agency read: “The song’s lyrics directly contradict Catholic doctrine . . . is this scandal or scandalous ignorance?” Various users in the comment section denounced the contender, supporting a more conservative option like Guinean prelate Robert Sarah.
Yet many came to Tagle’s defense, with one user commenting: “The guy sang a song about world peace. If that’s really the most dirt you can dig up on him, he’d make an excellent pope.” Another user commented on the same video: “God forbid a pastor advocates for peace.”
God save the memes
Now users are taking it the extra mile, resurfacing more videos and edits and slating Tagle as the internet’s pick for the next pope.
On a video featuring Tagle smiling as he sways his hands and dances in a church, commenters showed their support, saying: “I want this pope, please God,” “With you, Francis II,” and “I like him, he has my vote from Uruguay.”
Fans have taken to edits to show their support as well, with one video titled “Tagle core,” a spin-off of a TikTok trend stitching together videos to the music of Aphex Twin, featuring the Filipino cardinal singing, dancing, and talking in between laughs.
His support has also been meme-ified, with users jokingly creating “POV” videos and imagining a future in which the Vatican is filled by dramatic singing interpretations.
Another video, edited in Korean-fancam style, has garnered more than 299,000 likes, with thousands of users debating between Tagle and Sarah in the comments. One user said: “Me following this pope election like it’s reality TV.”
Another user captured the recurring sentiment of social media users, saying: “First conclave in the TikTok era. I’m so happy to be alive in these historic times.”