VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — LifeSite editor-in-chief John-Henry Westen interviewed Catholic pro-life leader and former U.S. senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum from Rome. They discussed the ongoing conclave, the need for the cardinals to elect a pope who will have the courage to preach with doctrinal clarity, and more.

Westen asked Santorum for his thoughts on the current conclave and what the faithful should look for in the next pontiff. Santorum emphasized that what the Church needs is simply a pope who follows Catholic teaching.

“I’m praying that we have a pope who has the courage of his Catholic convictions. [A pope who will] just speak the truth of what the Church teaches, that’s all,” he said. “I’m not asking for anything other than: stand up to falsehood, stand up to things that are destructive of the common good and that are threats to religious freedom. And [for him to] be a voice, a light in a dark world, a voice in the wilderness.”

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 A bit later, Westen asked Santorum if there are any particular cardinals he’s hoping will be elected, to which the former senator said there are some he’d be excited about, but ultimately he’s just hoping for a pontiff who will offer some stability for the Church.

“There are a lot of names that I’ve seen out there that I’m very excited about, there are names that I’m less excited about, there are names that I’m petrified about,” he said. “But … from everything I’m hearing … people are done with the drama, and they want some stability.”

Santorum further stressed that beyond stability, what the Church really needs to combat these dark times is a pope with courage.

“[The next pope should be asked,] ‘Are you willing to have the courage to speak?’ The world’s a dark place right now, the culture’s a dark place right now,” he said.

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“You look at the most prosperous countries in the world, and you have the highest rates of depression and suicide and drug use,” he added. “It’s not because of material want, it‘s because they haven’t been exposed to the truth. And we have the truth. And God have mercy on us that we don’t have the courage to tell the truth.”

To hear more from Rick Santorum, watch or listen to the full interview.