The Next Pope? Twenty leading possibilities

National Catholic Reporter ^ | 4/2/2005 | John L. Allen

[sinkspur]

Who Will Be the Next Pope? These 20 candidates have possibilties By John L. Allen Jr. Rome

Prognostication is a notoriously hazardous business, and the trash heaps of church history are littered with the carcasses of journalists who have tried to predict the next pope. Almost no one, for example, correctly anticipated that the archbishop of Kraków, Karol Wojtyla, would emerge from the second conclave of 1978 as Pope John Paul II.

In that spirit, the intent here is not to "predict" who will become the next pope, which is a futile exercise. Instead, the aim is to identify cardinals whose backgrounds, accomplishments, and personalities guarantee they will at least get a serious look as possible papal material. Doing so will illustrate the criteria cardinals typically employ in trying to size up who among their peers might be able to step into the "Shoes of the Fisherman."

Will the next pope be one of these 20 men? Perhaps. But all are certainly under consideration, and that by itself makes them worth a look.

[hansel]

I agree as well. Tettamanzi seems very possible.

Please, no franco-canadian pope.

I'm not too wild about the Indonesian, either.

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

ping

[MHT]

Where is he these days? Is he still even alive? I miss the Find-The-Pope-In-The-Pizza contest...It was a sure way to get a winner.

[BlackjackPershing]

Refer to St. Malachy for the answer...

The pope will be Italian and will take Leo XVI as his name.

Two more popes, according to Malachy

[Centurion2000]

Lubomyr Husar, Ukraine

This guy ... don't know why but this guy should be pope.

[sinkspur]

For your consideration.

[sinkspur]

Husar is Uniate. IOW, Eastern Rite.

He would certainly be an interesting choice.

[marshmallow]

College of Cardinals

Check out the entire list of Cardinal Electors here.

If you can pick the next Pope from among them, you're a better man than me.

[Mount Athos]

It would be pretty sad if the next one was chosen by geographic location, skin color, or somesuch. They should look at who is reliably orthodox in belief and who is not. Be wary of those with an agenda extraneous to Christianity and salvation. I really wonder when I hear talk about "social justice", what is that a codeword for -- socialism? Well it's not my business anyway.

[Alberta's Child]

I can't imagine that some of the cardinals on that list would even be remotely considered for the papacy. And I wonder why Cardinal Ratzinger was left off the list?

[Siobhan]

My two cents on their top twenty:

Ennio Antonelli, Italian NON
Francis Arinze, Nigeria Very Possible
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, ArgentinaPOSSIBLE
Dario Castrillón Hoyos, ColombiaNON
Godfried Danneels, Belgium NYET NYET NYET
Julius Darmaatmadja, Indonesia NYET-JESUIT-NYET
Ivan Dias, India VERY POSSIBLE
Claudio Hummes, Brazil NEIN
Lubomyr Husar, Ukraine DARK HORSE
Walter Kasper, German NYET-DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER
Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez, Dominican Republic NON
Wilfrid Fox Napier, South Africa NO - He's Anglophone
Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, Cuba NON
Marc Ouellet, Canada NON
Giovanni Battista Re, Italy Outside Chance
Norberto Rivera Carrera, Mexico NON
Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, Honduras NON-various problems
Angelo Scola, Italy Possible
Christoph Schönborn, Austria LESS LIKELY THAN SOME THINK
Dionigi Tettamanzi, Italy NOT LIKELY AT ALL

But they make a mistake by including Ivan Cardinal Dias but not including Jose Cardinal Saraiva Martins in their list -- both non-Italian but seen as having inside connections and certainly Cardinal Saraiva Martins has lived in Rome for a very long time.

[sinkspur]

Ratzinger's too old, and has too many enemies.

[Alberta's Child]

Lubomyr Husar of the Ukraine, perhaps soon to be known as Pope Santa Claus I.

[MarMema]

Now that would be fun.

[Cronos]

I would hope it's NOT another European. The Pope will not be American (the Papacy tends not to go to a candidate from the superpower of the time -- whether that be the Holy Roman Empire or the USA). I would hope the Pope is African or Indian.

[Cronos]

The Cardinals from Nigeria, Mumbai(India) and Argentina are all strongly orthodox

[Alberta's Child]

Ratzinger's too old, and has too many enemies.

Ratzinger's age led many pundits to dismiss him as a potential pope 10-15 years ago, but after a very long reign like that of John Paul II his age may be a point in his favor.

Enemies among the college of cardinals?

[Talking_Mouse]

Thanks for posting this.

[clee1]

Whoever it is, the Catholic Church desperately needs a theological hardliner; somebody that will insist that the faithful follow Chrurch doctrine. As well he needs to have the stones to excommunicate pro-choice politicians and pedophillic priests.