Catholic Italian press name Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley as possible Pope Benedict replacement

Now I'm hearing that Ghana's Peter Turkson could be the next Pope OMG do we really need a black pope it bad enough we have a black Irishman for president.

Certainly an intriguing proposition! Any U.S. Cardinal is at best a long shot for Pontiff, but after reading "PhlutiePhan's" 11am observations below, O'Malley sounds like he might be exactly what the Curia desperately needs to help it adjust to the challenges of the 21st Century. Reasonable observers have to be cautious over ANY of the prospects from a College of Cardinals so made over in the extreme right wing image of the man the next Pope must replace, but our cautious prayers will be with Cardinals wise enough to seriously consider this choice.

He was also smart enough to quickly sense the need for huge sums of money to pay the legal damage form the multitude of abuse cases,and quickly accepted the $100 million offer from Boston College to buy valuable church property adjacent to the BC campus. The Vatican can use such skills as they crawl out of similar messes around the world.

Dream on. They want a functionary who can operate within the confines of the Curia. They do not want a humble priest from Lakewood Ohio. Humility only worked for Angelo Roncalli. Good choice, but rather doubt an American of any stripe is in the running. Certainly not Tim Dolan and his $20gs per pedophile priest legacy.

I must be very old. Raised in east Cambridge. Did not ever see any of this in my years and we had 7 RC Churches in my neighborhood. Funny story when i went to set up my date to be married at 17 the priest made me go get my mom LOL

Ask the people of Boston about that one. He gave plenty of honor to Eddie K at his funeral even though he was in the vanguard of abortion projection. Cardinal Sean got rid of the priests and nuns at the chancery and replaced them (source BostonCatholicInsider} with 17 individuals carrying 150K salaries including a non-Catholic personnel director and Bryan Hehir, a pro abortion Democratic priest. Sure, he is modern but is he Catholic like his Capuchin classmate, the "Last of the Mohican" AB Chaput in Philadelphia?

One thing is certain, Cardinal O’Malley has seen the "spiritual carnage" directly caused by the Vatican handling of the criminal abuse of little children first hand. Many Cardinals in Rome, I fear, are so "within the system" if elected, would only do business as usual. The majority of cardinals have all been picked during the time of Benedict and John Paul before him. And their leadership towards abuse was abysmal. In Boston, in 2002 alone, 500 victims came forward to report past abuses. Boston, once the center of Irish Catholic faith had to close more than half (60) of all its parishes.If anyone has seen the impact on all fronts its O'Malley. The question remains, if elected, what will he do to change the total lack of confidence the United States and Ireland has towards its dishonest hierarchy and regain the faith of its people?