Who Will Be the Next Pope?
Becky Kospanova
On February 11, 2013 Pope Benedict XVI declared that he will resign on February 28, 2013 due to advanced age and failing health which prevent him from carrying out his duties as Pope with necessary vigor. Considering that he is the first Pope to step down while alive in almost 600 years, it is no wonder that the world was stunned by his announcement. The last Pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII who was forced to do so in 1415 to end the dispute with a rival papal candidate; and the last Pope to step down willingly was Pope Celestine V who resigned in 1295 after serving as Pope for only five months.
There are more than one billion Catholics in the world today and, understandably, the future of Vatican is a matter of utmost interest to many people. Thus, the most important question facing Vatican today is as following – who is going to be the next Pope? Based on centuries-old tradition, every Pope is chosen by a conclave of cardinals. Consequently, a conclave, consisting of 118 cardinals from all over the globe, will be held in March 2013 to elect a new Pope in time for upcoming Easter celebrations. Out of all the cardinals, 62 come from Europe (mostly from Italy), 19 are from Latin America, 14 are from the United States and Canada, 11 are from Asia, 11 are from Africa, and 1 is from Australia. However, newly elected Pope will have to deal with many problems facing Catholic Church nowadays such as numerous sex abuse scandals and Church’s position on abortion and gay marriage.
While majority of cardinals from whom a future Pope will be chosen come from European nations, Catholic world witnessed significant surge in members mostly among African and Latin American countries. As such, many analysts predict that future Pope might be elected from these parts of the world. While many people agree that, ideally, next Pope should be chosen with no regard to his geographical origin but with consideration of his leadership abilities, the question of origins still plays an important role.
There are several candidates who are considered to be strong contenders to become next Pope:
1. Cardinal Angelo Scola, Archbishop of Milan.
2. Canadian Cardinal Marc Oullett, Head of Vatican’s Office of Bishops,
3. Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, an Argentinian Cardinal overseeing Eastern Churches.
4. Cardinal Peter Turkson from Ghana, the managing editor of International Journal of African Catholicism. This candidate currently leads Pope’s Council for Justice and Peace and is believed to be good at establishing rapport with people across different faiths.
5. .Brazilian Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz.
6. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington.
The process of nominating a next Pope is a secretive one and, most likely, none of us ordinary people will ever understand what exactly happens behind the walls in the process of electing the next Pope. The only hope people of all faiths share is that there will be no more religious, racial, or ideological diversion to prevent us from peaceful co-existence.
