Between Conclave, The Two Popes, The Young Pope, and the 2022 wave of far-left and far-right edgelords roleplaying TradCath, the 2024 and current TikTok Catholic Core aesthetic trend seems, er, trendy, but maybe already peaked last year. Or 2018. Still, if you love Catholic imagery and ritual and opulence, this is your Shark Week.
I (for some reason) looked for Pope Francis Tik Toks but mostly found those looks, from fine lace head coverings and all-white cotton cottagecore purity, gothic Catholic witchcore spilling into The Craft / Cruel Intentions dark academia, and Y2K sacrosancta with dark lip liner, Mary cameo rings, thrifted crucifixes above the bed, even some Madonna-ish 80s soft-focus fallen angel vibes wearing layered rosaries, massive bows in messy curls, low-cut communion-eque dresses and captions like "feeling like a virgin rn, might convert." I found a TikTok of all the holy water one Catholic Core influencer keeps at home. I don't have any Holy Water at home. This is how social media sells the want, not the product.
Then I got to the young hot Catholic priest fan edits set to hardstyle techno. First one ended with a illustration of Christ Jesus with a Biblically accurate sharp jawline. That's weird, right? What's the end goal here?
But let's think this through? Did you know priests are sometimes fully ordained at 24? Or that men don't have to be a Cardinals or even priests at all to be elected... just any baptized Catholic male with massive charm and self-belief.* And humility, too (got ya).
I probably have something a sliver less trivial and wordy to say about post-covid loneliness, the desire for ritual, community, tradition, parasocialism and donating for attention, horseshoe theory, or the sheer volume of Catholic architecture, art, fashion and relics to discover, if you just like aesthetics.
A Gen Z person already wrote the piece on Pope Francis' death, and his return to Catholic faith inspired by Pope Francis. This was for Esquire! Gen Z may actually, really, be joining the Catholic church. We'll see (the data is unclear). He also argues for all of us, lapsed, faithful, indifferent Catholics, atheists, aesthetes or ascetes (in this economy) to all avoid the discourse this week, the meaning jokes and politics and, I'm sure, the online betting pools on Stake.**
All of the above aside, I did feel a shift, a sadness and appreciation for a man who could have locked himself away but dedicated himself to the poor, migrants, refugees, climate change, social justice. He met with Trump and criticized him right on Twitter (thats why Trump wrote such a weak tribute – so jealous.) Francis apologized to victims of church abuse and then the church's silence, he met with displaced indigenous people to ask for their forgiveness. He held an audience with Jimmy Fallon and laughed at his non-jokes, maybe as some kind of goofy self flagellation?
So yeah.. loss, sadness, worry. A woman interviewed early this morning outside St. Peter's (on CNN maybe) said "He left us..." or maybe, "He abandoned us..." but that's judgy wasn't like he wanted to. As I said on LinkedIn, the death of the Pope makes every once Catholic feel off... genuinely, hurt, surprised, a bit lost, fatherless?
We got lucky – the last one was awful AND a quitter. This one clearly should've been rested on Easter but still greeted visitors and blessed crowds, drove around the plaza in that car, met with JD Vance, which he should've gotten out of last minute. Pope Francis seemed so very human, esp for the vessel of God's message on earth. He had Pope jokes and a fav football team and hard liquor. Did you see his line of merch for his US tour? Kpop stans said it was better than favs and he gave away photocards, for free!
I followed him on Twitter, which is corny but sometimes you need some hope and encouragement between all the racial slurs and Elon posts. I don't know if we'll get another Pope like him, that's where the worry comes from... can we get another one that you could just like, be a sometime fan of, sometimes, casually, without following or believing he's a messenger of God's own tweets.
One hilarious and bizarre part of Catholicism is that the priests you like, or at least don't find scary, are nice old guys with kind eyes. trapped underneath highly covetable, frightening, stuffy, very on trend layers of opulent Catholic core. The church is comfortingly, reliably, anachronistically what it will always be. But I hope we get another Pope like the last one.
I have no idea why this brought me back to a blog I haven't updated in almost a decade. But maybe I'll do more? My last post was on Battlestar Galactica what am I? Please let me know if this is interesting as a read or if you made it this far!
Also here's the Pope handling a delulu fan like a absolute icon. I might make a YT short with it later. Is there anything more relatable than telling someone to back the fuck up?
*I would return to the church if they elected a 24 year old from like, Connecticut, to be the infallible word of God on earth. Very unlikely, but it's a "screw it, we go full send" time for elected leaders. If the kid's old enough to run the federal government into the ground, he's old enough to guide 1.5 billion (not literal esp compared to him) children.
Also, could I even have unwavering belief in a 24 year old Florida Pope with official decrees and hot takes on Twitter, but all from God? What if he also just returned to the church because he's Gen Z and liked Pope Francis and wants IRL community and organizations to volunteer with? I don't think I could get with a just converted pope with less experience than I, and I speak for all Catholics over 24 I bet.
I'm biased and still stuck on this debate... but Papacy is the perfect millennial career pivot. Jesus didn't start his ministry until age 30, the Prophet Muhammad was just over 40 when he received his first revelation from God. Young and passionate, and worked a real job first. And didn't live with their parents, I think. Our Pope should follow in their footsteps if he wants to speak for God.
** (Heretics should also stop talking shit about Catholics this week, for once. You are unhinged in your replies to that Mark Wahlberg prayer app ad. Literally – first reply was whining about how Catholics won't shut up about being Catholic. It's Mark Wahlberg pitching prayer, with some ranks or gamification, we know we need to work on ourselves. But remove the stake from your eye, so mad for what?)