I'm almost certain that the next Pope will be Italian. JPII was elected thanks in part to a three way split of competing Italian candidates. Konig, a German cardinal, "campaigned" for JPII who was an outside favorite and got him elected with the help of "Germanic" and US votes.
This time around a conservative Italian cardinal will be elected.
I believe his papacy was pre-ordained by God. Some amazing world events took place on his watch, and more may come before he passes.
Keep an eye on this fellow:
Pope John Paul II has appointed the 60-year-old head of the Lateran University, long involved with the conservative group Communion and Liberation (CL) as the new Patriarch of Venice, effective January 5. Scola has a long history with the conservative group Communion and Liberation. Affable and cosmopolitan, he is a respected and serious intellectual close to the thinking of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (who is said to have pushed for his appointment to Venice) and the late Hans Urs von Balthasar, both of whom are exponents of a 'rethinking' of the Second Vatican Council.