Posted on 04/03/2005 10:19:56 AM PDT by pittsburgh gop guy
The basic thought is the pope is also the Bishop of Rome so obviously there is some sentiment that he be Italian. I think there is probably only a 1 in 4 chance that the next pope is Italian. I believe the number of Italian cardinals eligible to vote is the smallest number ever. I would be willing to bet the next next pope is at least 70 years old. No more "young" (if being in your sixties is young!) popes for awhile.
How would the world have been different if another Italian were selected in 1978? Maybe communism would have fallen anyway, but I doubt it.
Africa is about to be eaten up by AIDS, perhaps a pope from there with conservative moral views would turn that around. It's worth a try.
By the way, it will be quite interesting watching the first papal election since the invention of 24 hour news channels, and the Internet.
Well the Pope is *Bishop of Rome* and something like 95% of the 264 Popes in history have been, well, Italians - including every single one for the 455 years before John Paul II.
But I like Arinze a lot as well.
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