RE: Both Drudge and WND have articles about Cardinal Turkson being a candidate for the next pope.
A Ghanian Pope? Why not?
He is only 64 years old and is the current president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
The only problem with him is this — I don’t know how the other traditional cardinals will view his stance on the use of condoms.
Turkson reaffirmed the Catholic social teaching on contraception, in regard to statements made by Pope Benedict that condoms were not a solution to Africa’s AIDS crisis and were taken out of context by the media.
However, and this is where some concern might arise -— Turkson did not rule out condoms in all circumstances suggesting they could be useful in the situation of a married, faithful couple where one partner is infected; although he warns that, as the quality of condoms in Africa is poor, their use could engender false confidence.
He said abstinence, fidelity, and refraining from sex if infected were the key to fighting the epidemic. He also believes that the money being spent on condoms would be better spent providing anti-retroviral drugs to those already infected.
We shall see; he does fit the description, and things do seem to be falling into place for this to occur. There are other possible candidates but I'd say he is the strongest candidate.
What's more interesting, does the mean the end of the church? There is quite a convergence of prophecy and natural events taking place of late.
Whoever the next pope will be, he will be conservative, if only because such a high proportion of the voting cardinals were appointed by JPII and Ratzinger.