[Cicero]

I confess I hadn't heard of Karol Woytila until he was elected Pope. There may be some wonderful candidate out there whom none of us have ever heard of. But of the candidates sometimes mentioned, my preference is for Cardinal Francis Arinze. What a great leader he would be!

[tjwmason]

I confess I hadn't heard of Karol Woytila until he was elected Pope. There may be some wonderful candidate out there whom none of us have ever heard of. But of the candidates sometimes mentioned, my preference is for Cardinal Francis Arinze. What a great leader he would be!

The old saying is that 'he who enters the conclave a Pope, leaves it a Cardinal'; the election frequently throws up very unexpected names.

I agree about H.E. Francis card. Arinze, I would add H.E. Dario card. Castrillon Hoyos and H.E. Jozef card. Ratzinger. Cardinal Ratzinger has been widely tipped, and whilst I am a fan of his, he would only be a 'caretaker' where the Church could do with a strong reign finally to sort it out. Both cardinal Arinze and cardinal Castrillon Hoyos are also from the developing world (Nigeria and Colombia respectively) which is the site of most of the energy in the Church.