VATICAN CITY
Global Post
Analysis: Five men who could become head of the global Catholic Church.
Jason Berry
Pope Benedict’s resignation has galvanized interest in cardinals who until now have been distant figures to most Catholics, and some of the leading candidates are being analyzed by the world’s media and Vatican watchers as potential popes.
Or, as they have come to be known in Italian, papabile.
And we want to offer some observations on five of the more papabile Cardinals from different corners of the world.
But first, you need to know how they get elected. The process begins with a highly secretive and complex gathering called a conclave that will bring cardinals from around the world to the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel next month to elect a successor.
That is expected to begin at some point after the pope’s official resignation takes effect on Feb. 28 and Vatican observers believe it is quite possible that a pope will be elected before Easter Sunday, March 30. Balancing the issues of a global church, while steering a course of reconciliation to broaden “the big tent” of Catholicism, will be a major task of the next pope and one certainly on the minds of the cardinals who will elect him.
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