With the resignation of Pope Benedict coming into effect on Feb 28th, there are only 20 days for the eligible cardinals with voting rights to elect a new pope.
There is a possible Irish connection to the next pope and if you didn't go to the Eucharistic Congress last summer you may have missed out on meeting him. The Papal Legate, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, from Canada is seen as a very strong front runner. Conservative, he is experienced in dealing with child abuse and the struggle with more liberal elements pushing for a freeing up of Catholic moral teaching.
New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan is worth a punt if the College of Cardinals choose to opt for a native English speaker. Having spent years running the North American College in Rome, Dolan is fluent in Italian and is well-known in Vatican circles. He was part of Pope Benedict's investigation into the Church in Ireland in the wake of the clerical abuse scandals. Both friends and foes describe him as "pugnaciously orthodox." He is media savvy, hosting a regular radio programme and has sparred with the New York Times accusing the paper of bias against the Catholic Church.
His brash American demeanour will count against him, particularly among the Italian cardinals. He also would signal a taking of sides in the very divided American church.
Dolan, as comfortable drinking beer at a barbecue as he is in the corridors of power, may be just too rooted for the old guard in the Roman Curia.
Read more: Could Cardinal Timothy Dolan from New York be the first American pope?
Bookmaker Paddy Power has put him on 25/1.
Of course many look to the vibrant church of the southern hemisphere for the next Pope and Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana who was also at the Congress in Dublin is a major contender. However, Pope John Paul was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years, and although he was followed by a German, the odds of the cardinals breaking with tradition for a third time of appointing Italians and then a non-European seem high. Yet a black pope would be a wonderful sign of change but unlikely to mean any change in teaching, but maybe more colourful liturgies for a start.
If the consistory of cardinals do decide on a Pope from the developing world, Cardinal Peter Turkson, Archbishop emeritus of Ghana and president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, will surely be their go to man.
He was President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference (1997-2005) and member of the Pontifical Commission for Methodist-Catholic Dialogue, Chancellor of the Catholic University College of Ghana and treasurer of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar. Cardinal Turkson was created and proclaimed Cardinal by John Paul II in 2003.
Staying with the developing world, Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga represents Latin America's next best chance at a Pope. The young and well versed Honduran who was ordained for the Salesians in 1970 holds a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Lateran University, Rome, and a diploma in clinical psychology and psychotherapy from Leopold Franz University, Innsbruck.
If the consistory of cardinals decides not to break with tradition and elect a European Pope to succeed the German Ratzinger, the likelihood is that he will be Italian. Among the Italians, Cardinal Angelo Scola, Archbishop of Milan is a strong contender having recently been moved from Venice to Milan, the most important archdiocese in Italy after Rome.
Read more: St. Malachy predicted Pope Benedict’s successor will be last pope
Prior to his appointments in Venice and Milan, the Holy Father appointed him Rector of the Pontifical Lateran University and President of the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in 1995. He was also Relator General of the Synod of Bishops in 2005.
The media savvy Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, is another Italian hotly tipped as a possible successor to the throne of St Peter. He was born in Merate, Italy and ordained a priest of the archdiocese of Milan in 1966 following studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University and at the Pontifical Biblical Institute.
He has written many books, articles for L'Osservatore Romano and L'Avvenire and even hosts his own television show Frontiers of the Spirit. He was created and proclaimed Cardinal by Benedict XVI in 2010.
Another European possible is the Czech born Dominican Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. He will be remembered for preaching the Lenten spiritual exercises for the Pope and the Roman Curia in 1996. Cardinal Schönborn has also been the author of many publications and is favourable with Benedict for his work with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
He taught chemistry, physics and music at various Salesian colleges in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala and was professor of moral theology and ecclesiology at the Salesian Theological Institute, Guatemala, and is currently President of the Episcopal Conference of Honduras and Caritas International.
Whoever takes over, they will need to present to the world, to paraphrase President Obama, an open hand and not a fist, in other words, they need to be signs of compassion in a world that expects them to follow in the footsteps of the carpenter from Nazareth.
Garry O'Sullivan is Editor in Chief of The Irish Catholic newspaper - www.irishcatholic.ie
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.jacersagain | Feb 13, 2013, 05:39 PM EST
@ falconflash … I’m pretty sure that the spire atop St. Peter’s Basilica has been hit by lightning millions of times since it was built and not one of them a “sign” from Heaven” I was just playing off the members of the media who like to scare superstitious people with insinuations. I’ve been on the roof of St. Peter’s a few times and have seen the copper lightning conductors installed there that ensure the dome won’t ever be destroyed because of lightning, just like your own home probably has (or should have) a lightning conductor on it. In fact, copper lightning conductors are deliberately installed on all tall buildings to “invite” lightning to strike the electricity-conductive copper to transfer their electrical power’s danger safely to the absorbing earth beneath our feet and our homes.
Redneck56 | Feb 12, 2013, 09:46 PM EST
I guess a Canuck Pope isn't any stranger than a Nazi Pope.
falconflash | Feb 12, 2013, 08:27 PM EST
jacersagain: I wonder how common it is for lightning to hit the Vatican? I am a conservative Catholic but not ready to say this is a sign from God.
billmulliganjr | Feb 12, 2013, 05:43 PM EST
You do not seem to understand the process for electing a pope. After the vacancy occurs, the cardinal electors will assemble in the Sistine Chapel and be locked in with a few staff. They will vote several times a day until a candidate gets 2/3 plus one of the ballots. No one will enter or leave until a pope is elected. There will not be any voting between now and the time the cardinals assemble.
jacersagain | Feb 12, 2013, 04:38 PM EST
(…more) Who’s to say that the RCC Cardinals might opt for the leader of any of the Catholic Churches in communion with Rome, such as Patriarch Louis Raphael the First, of the Chaldean Catholic Church (i.e. of the Babylonian, or Syrian and Iraqi, extending to America, Church) - (ironically elected only last month in Rome of all places - ironically due to the resignation, also due old age, of Patriarch Emmanuel the III Delly) or Pope Tawadros II Soki, Pope of Alexandria and the Coptic Church, elected only last year, in whose land there were video’d Apparitions of Our Lady recently… perhaps a sign from Heaven? - not to mention the possible sign(??) of both a still and a televised bolt of lightning actually striking the spire of St. Peter’s Basilica on the night of the day that Benedict announced his resignation? Yeah, I know… I wouldn’t dare place my bets with a bookie on that kind of election happening either but it does perhaps remain an option of surprise for the Pope-electors.
jacersagain | Feb 12, 2013, 04:35 PM EST
While there is a long tradition of electing a Pope from within their own ranks, there is nothing in Canon Law to say that the electing Cardinals can’t elect any Catholic male, whether of the RCC or of any of the Catholic Churches, who is outside of the RCC’s College of Cardinals. After centuries of Italian Popes, the election of a Polish Cardinal and a German Cardinal as two successive Popes came as a huge surprise to all, even media-savvy journalists, never mind the bookies. Who’s to say … (More…)
jacersagain | Feb 12, 2013, 04:32 PM EST
An interesting selection of candidates by Garry O’Sullivan… it’s interesting too that he mentions a few ‘papabiles’ who are “media-savvy”… as if the RCC needs its Pope to be media-savvy (what arrogance from the Editor of the Irish Catholic magazine paper!)… That’s not even a part of any Pope’s qualifications, or role or job. Sure there’s certainly hardly a media person of any note in the world who is Papacy-savvy, so what credits any media person assumes as going to count in the election of the next Pope are completely out of the wash, not in the wash.
dcdeirdre | Feb 12, 2013, 01:02 PM EST
I’ve read that the Canadian is yet another arch conservative. It might be time to have an African Pope, and the Ghanaian and Nigerian are both eminently qualified. My favorite is Gianfranco Ravasi though. I think he’s the least conservative of the lot who apparently is all about keeping the church relevant.
cillowen | Feb 12, 2013, 12:51 PM EST
it should be a latin american that canadian looks too american for the job. Would make the others suspicious of so-called master of the free ...
dcdeirdre | Feb 12, 2013, 11:44 AM EST
I’ve read that the Canadian is yet another arch conservative. It might be time to have an African Pope, and the Ghanaian and Nigerian are both eminently qualified. My favorite is Gianfranco Ravasi though. I think he’s the least conservative of the lot who apparently is all about keeping the church relevant.
Frosty38 | Feb 12, 2013, 11:12 AM EST
I doubt if it will be Us pope so it will be the Canadian
oonafitz | Feb 12, 2013, 10:09 AM EST
Why do they have only 20 days? They usually vote after the pope has died, so it's not as if we can't go with a pope for a few days. I've never heard of any time limit on the election.
PhlutiePhan | Feb 12, 2013, 09:49 AM EST
Peter Romanus is supposed to be the final pope. I put my money on Peter T.
MichaelMcGrath | Feb 12, 2013, 09:21 AM EST
Maradiaga seems to be emerging as a probable , mainly due to his American base, but now it's emerging that he could have the most brains of the leading contenders...