Who would be the subsequent Pope? The highest candidates in an unpredictable contest

Who would be the subsequent pope? The choice might have a profound affect on the Catholic Church and the world’s 1.4 billion baptised Roman Catholics.

It additionally guarantees to be a extremely unpredictable and open course of for a number of causes.

The School of Cardinals will meet in conclave within the Sistine Chapel to debate after which vote for his or her most popular candidates till a single title prevails.

With 80% of the cardinals appointed by Pope Francis himself, they aren’t solely electing a pope for the primary time, however will supply a broad international perspective.

For the primary time in historical past, fewer than half of these given a vote shall be European.

And though the school could also be dominated by his appointments, they weren’t completely “progressive” or “traditionalist”.

For these causes, it’s more durable than ever to foretell who shall be elected the subsequent Pope.

Might the cardinals elect an African or an Asian Pope, or would possibly they favour one of many outdated arms of the Vatican administration?

Listed here are a number of the names being talked about as Francis’s potential successor.

Pietro Parolin

Nationality: Italian

Age: 70

Softly spoken Italian Cardinal Parolin was the Vatican’s secretary of state beneath Pope Francis – making him the Pope’s chief adviser. The secretary of state additionally heads the Roman Curia, the Church’s central administration.

Having acted successfully as deputy pope, he could possibly be thought of a frontrunner.

He’s considered by some as extra more likely to prioritise diplomacy and a world outlook than the purity of Catholic dogma. His critics take into account that an issue, whereas his supporters see a power.

However he has been vital of the legalisation of same-sex marriage world wide, calling a landmark 2015 vote in favour within the Republic of Eire “a defeat for humanity”.

The bookmakers might again him however Cardinal Parolin shall be effectively conscious of an outdated Italian saying that stresses the uncertainty of the pope-picking course of: “He who enters a conclave as a pope, leaves it as a cardinal.”

Some 213 of the earlier 266 popes have been Italian and regardless that there has not been an Italian pope in 40 years, the pivot of the higher echelons of the Church away from Italy and Europe might imply there might not be one other for now.

Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle

Nationality: Filipino

Age: 67

Might the subsequent pope come from Asia?

Cardinal Tagle has many years of pastoral expertise – which means he has been an lively Church chief among the many individuals versus a diplomat for the Vatican or cloistered skilled on Church regulation.

The Church is massively influential within the Philippines, the place about 80% of the inhabitants is Catholic. The nation at present has a document 5 members of the School of Cardinals – which might make for a major lobbying faction if all of them again Cardinal Tagle.

He’s thought of a average throughout the Catholic definition, and has been dubbed the “Asian Francis” due to a dedication to social points and sympathy for migrants that he shared with the late pope.

He has opposed abortion rights, calling them “a type of homicide” – a place consistent with the Church’s broader stance that life begins at conception. He has additionally spoken in opposition to euthanasia.

However in 2015 when he was Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Tagle known as for the Church to reassess its “extreme” stance in direction of homosexual individuals, divorcees and single moms, saying previous harshness had performed lasting hurt and left individuals feeling “branded”, and that every particular person deserved compassion and respect.

The cardinal was thought of a candidate to be pope way back to the 2013 conclave by which Francis was elected.

Requested a decade in the past how he considered options he could possibly be subsequent, he replied: “I deal with it like a joke! It is humorous.”

Fridolin Ambongo Besungu

Nationality: Congolese

Age: 65

It is very attainable the subsequent Pope could possibly be from Africa, the place the Catholic Church continues so as to add thousands and thousands of members. Cardinal Ambongo is a number one candidate, hailing from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

He has been Archbishop of Kinshasa for seven years, and was appointed cardinal by Pope Francis.

He’s a cultural conservative, opposing blessings for same-sex marriage, stating that “unions of individuals of the identical intercourse are thought of contradictory to cultural norms and intrinsically evil”.

Although Christianity is almost all faith within the DRC, Christians there have confronted dying and persecution by the hands of jihadist group Islamic State and related rebels. In opposition to that backdrop, Cardinal Ambongo is considered as a fierce advocate for the Church.

However in a 2020 interview, he spoke in favour of non secular plurality, saying: “Let Protestants be Protestants and Muslims be Muslims. We’re going to work with them. However everybody has to maintain their very own identification.”

Such feedback could lead on some cardinals to marvel if he absolutely embraces their sense of mission – by which Catholics hope to unfold the Church’s phrase all through the world.

Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson

Nationality: Ghanaian

Age: 76

If chosen by his friends, the influential Cardinal Turkson would likewise have the excellence of being the primary African pope for 1,500 years.

Like Cardinal Ambongo, he has claimed to not need the job. “I am undecided whether or not anybody does aspire to turn out to be a Pope,” he advised the BBC in 2013.

Requested if Africa had an excellent case to offer the subsequent Pope primarily based on the Church’s progress on the continent, he mentioned he felt the Pope should not be chosen primarily based on statistics, as a result of “these sorts of concerns are likely to muddy the waters”.

He was the primary Ghanaian to be made a cardinal, again in 2003 beneath Pope John Paul II.

Like Cardinal Tagle, Cardinal Turkson was thought of a possible Pope a decade later, when Francis was chosen. In truth, bookmakers made him the favorite forward of voting.

A guitarist who as soon as performed in a funk band, Cardinal Turkson is thought for his energetic presence.

Like many cardinals from Africa, he leans conservative. Nevertheless, he has opposed the criminalisation of homosexual relationships in African international locations together with his native Ghana.

In a BBC interview in 2023, whereas Ghana’s parliament was discussing a invoice imposing harsh penalties on LGBTQ+ individuals, Turkson mentioned he felt homosexuality shouldn’t be handled as an offence.

In 2012, he was accused of creating fear-mongering predictions over the unfold of Islam in Europe at a Vatican convention of bishops, for which he later apologised.

Peter Erdo

Nationality: Hungarian

Age: 72

A cardinal because the age of 51, Peter Erdo, is extremely regarded within the Church in Europe, having twice led the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences from 2006 to 2016.

He’s well-known amongst African cardinals and he has labored on Catholic relations with the Orthodox Church.

The archbishop of Budapest and primate of Hungary grew up in a Catholic household beneath communism, and he’s thought of a possible compromise candidate.

Erdo performed a outstanding position in Pope Francis’s two visits to Hungary in 2021 and 2023, and he was a part of the conclaves that elected Francis and his predecessor Pope Benedict.

His conservative views on the household have discovered favour with some components of the Church and he has navigated the “intolerant democracy” of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Throughout Europe’s migrant disaster in 2015, he mentioned the Church wouldn’t soak up migrants because it was tantamount to human trafficking.

Angelo Scola

Nationality: Italian

Age: 83

Solely cardinals beneath 80 can vote within the conclave, however Angelo Scola might nonetheless be elected.

The previous Archbishop of Milan was a frontrunner in 2013 when Francis was chosen, however he’s thought to have fallen sufferer to the adage of coming into the conclave as Pope and leaving as cardinal.

His title has resurfaced forward of the conclave, due to a ebook he’s publishing this week on outdated age. The ebook encompasses a preface written by Pope Francis shortly earlier than he was admitted to hospital by which he mentioned “dying is just not the top of every part, however the starting of one thing”.

Francis’s phrases present real affection for Scola, however the faculty of cardinals would possibly not see his concentrate on outdated age as splendid for a brand new Pope.

Reinhard Marx

Nationality: German

Age: 71

Germany’s high Catholic cleric can also be very a lot a Vatican insider too.

The Archbishop of Munich and Freising was chosen as an adviser when Francis turned Pope in 2013. For 10 years he suggested the Pope on Church reform and nonetheless oversees monetary reform of the Vatican.

He has advocated a extra accommodating method in direction of homosexuals or transgender individuals in Catholic educating.

However in 2021 he provided to resign over severe errors in tackling little one sexual abuse in Germany’s Catholic Church. That resignation was rejected by Francis.

Two years in the past he left the Council of Cardinals, the Pope’s most necessary advisory physique, in what was seen in Germany as a setback for his profession within the Church.

Marc Ouellet

Nationality: Canadian

Age: 80

Cardinal Ouellet has twice earlier than been seen as a possible candidate for Pope, in 2005 and 2013.

For years he ran the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, which chooses candidates for the episcopate world wide, so he has performed a major and formative position in vetting the longer term members of the Catholic hierarchy.

As one other octogenarian, he won’t be able to play an element within the conclave itself, which can hinder his probabilities.

Ouellet is considered as a conservative with a contemporary outlook, who’s strongly in favour of sustaining the precept of celibacy for monks.

He opposes the ordination of ladies monks, however he has known as for a larger position for girls in working the Catholic Church, saying that “Christ is male, the Church is female”.

Robert Prevost

Nationality: American

Age: 69

Might the papacy go to an American for the primary time?

Chicago-born Cardinal Prevost is actually seen as having most of the needed qualities for the position.

Two years in the past Pope Francis selected Prevost to exchange Marc Ouellet as prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, handing him the duty of choosing the subsequent technology of bishops.

He labored for a few years as a missionary in Peru earlier than being made an archbishop there.

Prevost isn’t just thought of an American, however as somebody who headed the Pontifical Fee for Latin America.

He’s seen a reformer, however at 69 is likely to be considered as too younger for the papacy. His interval as archbishop in Peru was additionally clouded by allegations of overlaying up sexual abuse claims, which had been denied by his diocese.

Robert Sarah

Nationality: Guinean

Age: 79

Popular with conservatives within the Church, Cardinal Sarah is thought for his adherence to doctrine and conventional liturgy and was usually thought of against Pope Francis’s reformist leanings.

The son of a fruit-picker, Sarah turned the youngest archbishop aged 34 when Pope John Paul II appointed him prelate in Conakry in Guinea.

He has had a protracted and spectacular profession, retiring in 2021 as head of the Vatican’s workplace that oversees the Catholic Church’s liturgical rites.

Whereas not thought of a favorite for the papacy, he might entice robust help from conservative cardinals.

Michael Czerny

Nationality: Canadian

Age: 78

Cardinal Czerny was appointed cardinal by Pope Francis and is like him a Jesuit.

Though he was born within the former Czechoslovakia, his household moved to Canada when he was two.

He has labored broadly in Latin America and in Africa, the place he based the African Jesuit Aids Community and taught in Kenya.

Czerny is widespread with progressives within the Church and was thought of near Pope Francis. He’s at present head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Selling Human Integral Growth.

Though a powerful candidate, it appears unlikely the cardinals would select a second Jesuit Pope in succession.