Cardinal Turkson has said that "if God would wish to see a black man also as pope, thanks be to God".
The son of a Methodist mother and lone Scripture scholar among the 113 cardinal-electors, it's already known that Turkson has B16's eye. The Pope named the Ghanaian to the key task of Relator (spokesman) for October's Synod of Bishops for Africa, giving the cardinal his first major showcase before the global church's top rank. The move was particularly of note as, in the prior synods of his four-year reign, the pontiff's pointedly handed the high-profile post to two globally-known intellectual heavies among the College of Cardinals, both of whom enjoy Benedict's trust and, indeed, invariably appear on the shortlists for his successor.
This should be interesting to watch. As predicted by Malachy, "In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church (as we see happening today) there will reign Petrus Romanus, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations".
I get the Petrus part, but how is he Romanus? That he’s a Roman Catholic doesn’t qualify as a distinction, because its presence in prophecy about this indicates it’s a geographical or familial connection to Rome, rather than being Roman Catholic, as all Popes would be.