My mom (Who I rely on for Catholic news) thinks Turkson is horrible.
Really? Odd. Cardinal Turkson sounds pretty conservative on contraception and gay rights. I'm hoping for an African Cardinal because most of the black Christians from Africa seem to be the exact opposite of their American counterparts and much more conservative than clergy from other parts of the world. Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria is probably to the right of Turkson but I seriously doubt he'd be considered for Pope in this conclave because he just turned 80.
(Of course, I've been saying for years that a Catholic Pope would NEVER resign due to advanced age or health reasons, because such a move was unheard of and a huge break with tradition in the Catholic Church. About a half dozen Popes have resigned in the church's history -- the most recent one 600 years ago -- but none did so due to age/health reasons. This week I have egg on my face)
Given the huge numbers of Catholics in Latin America, there's a good chance of a Hispanic Pope, but my gut feeling tells me that's a bad idea because of the corruption in those countries. (Pope from Spain itself would be fine but that's very middle ages and not gonna happen now) The last thing we want is some Cardinal elected Pope that has ties to drug cartels or something. (Pope Benedict XVI was ridiculed by liberals as the "NAZI pope" because he was a member of Hitler youth as a young boy, even though it was compulsory and his family never supported the NAZI regime)
Cardinal Dolan would make an awesome Pope, but an American Pope is never going to happen. Probably a good thing too, there's too many liberal bishops in the USA.
Of course none of us to get to vote, but although it's a religious office the ideal candidate would be similar to a ideal SCOTUS judge -- relatively young, charismatic, articulate, intellectual, and most importantly strong conservative who won't cave to the liberal media. Pope Benedict fit the last category perfectly and was an intellectual as well, but non-Catholics were able to caricature him beyond recognition because of the problems he had in other areas. He never commanded the level of respect and authority among non-Catholics that JPII had.
So far, this is favorite “longest of the long shots”, as in Catholic Cardinals who could hypothetically be chosen as Pope but never will be (the Green Party probably has a better shot at winning the Presidency in 2016 than this guy has of becoming Pope):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baselios_Cleemis
Turkson seems somewhat inclined toward a worldwide bank if not government, based on statements he has made. Not saying he would be a bad pope, but wouldn't doubt your mom's instincts either. ;)
Interesting times...
My top choice is the same as in 2005: Francis Cardinal Arinze of Nigeria. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Arinze He already turned 80, so he can’t vote, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t be elected.