Now, at the present time, Pope Francis (born in 1936) is aging and ailing. Under the circumstances, it seems likely that he might die in office soon -- or resign. In either case, it also seems likely that a new conclave might be convened soon for the cardinal-electors to elect a new pope.
Yes, the popular 2024 movie Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes, has helped familiarize many Americans today with the Church's long-established way of proceeding to have the cardinal-electors elect a new pope.
Now, in my March 1, 2025, email message to Ezra Klein about his interview with Martin Gurri, I also explained that I highlighted in my attached 12,700-word OEN article various aspects of Walter J. Ong's thought to construct a fourfold account of our Western cultural history, on the one hand, and, on the other, of the history of the Roman Catholic Church from (1) the historical Jesus of Nazareth in the residually oral ancient Hebrew culture through (2) the ancient and medieval Catholic manuscript culture into and through (3) the modern print culture that emerged in our Western cultural history after the Gutenberg printing press emerged in Europe in the mid-1450s, including the famous Council of Trent (1545-1563), into (4) our contemporary secondary oral culture that emerged decisively around 1960 and included the Second Vatican Council in the Roman Catholic Church (1962-1965).
In my March 1, 2025, email message to Ezra Klein about his interview with Martin Gurri, I pointed out, on the one hand, that Martin Gurri's media theory accentuates recent visual media involved in the recent historic emergence of digital media in our Western cultural history, and, on the other hand, that Walter J. Ong's media ecology theory accentuates the still-recent emergence about 1960 of the critical mass of communication media that accentuate sound in our Western cultural history - which Ong refers to as our contemporary secondary oral culture - which will continue for the foreseeable future, regardless of the various visual media transformations that may occur.
Now, my 12,700-word OEN article "Philip Shenon on the Last Seven Popes" includes a far more extensive discussion of Walter J. Ong's thought than I covered in my lengthy OEN article "Walter J. Ong's Philosophical Thought" (dated September 20, 2020).
Subsequently, I read the lengthy transcript at The New York Times website (dated March 1, 2025) of Ezra Klein's wide-ranging interview with his fellow journalist, the prolific Fareed Zakaria (born on January 20, 1964) titled "The Dark Heart of Trump's Foreign Policy." When I printed it out, the text ran to 37 pages in length. I will use the pagination of the 37-page printout of Fareed Zakaria and Ezra Klein's discussion in "The Dark Heart of Trump's Foreign Policy," in my parenthetical documentation here.
Now, I could have titled the present 28,800--word OEN article "Thomas J. Farrell's Encore About Walter J. Ong's Thought," because of my extensive discussion of Ong's thought in my 12,700-word OEN article. I have titled two earlier OEN articles as "Thomas J. Farrell's Encore" about a previous OEN article:
(1) "Thomas J. Farrell's Encore on Young Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman" (dated September 30, 2024);
(2) "Thomas J. Farrell's Encore on Robert Moore" (dated October 10, 2024).
However, I have decided not to follow this earlier OEN pattern here in the title the present 28,800--word OEN article. Just to be clear, I began working on the present OEN article on March 2, 2025. About that time, I lost my landline telephone and internet service. When I was without my telephone and internet service during the following days, I continued to work on the present 28,800--word OEN article off and on. Consequently, it gradually grew longer and longer over time - until I was able to re-establish my internet service.
Now, the prolific Fareed Zakaria is the author most recently of the book Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present (2024).
Now, in my 12,700-word OEN article "Philip Shenon on the Last Seven Popes," I used Ong's media ecology thought to construct a fourfold account of our Western cultural history:
(1) the pre-literate period of primary oral-aural communication - before the introduction of phonetic alphabetic literacy in ancient Hebrew culture and in ancient Greek culture;
(2) the literate ancient and medieval manuscript culture in our Western cultural history;
(3) the far more extensively literate print culture that emerged in our Western cultural history after the Gutenberg printing press emerged in Europe in the mid-1450s;
(4) our contemporary secondary oral culture that is the byproduct of the critical mass of communication media that accentuate sound (television, telephone, radio, audio-recordings, movies with soundtracks, and, more recently, podcasts) that emerged in our Western cultural history around 1960.
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