ROME
National Catholic Reporter
by John L. Allen Jr. | Mar. 11, 2013
ROME – John Allen is offering a profile each day of one of the most frequently touted papabili, or men who could be pope. The old saying in Rome is that he who enters a conclave as pope exits as a cardinal, meaning there’s no guarantee one of these men actually will be chosen. They are, however, the leading names drawing buzz in Rome these days, ensuring they will be in the spotlight as the conclave draws near. The profiles of these men also suggest the issues and the qualities other cardinals see as desirable heading into the election.
Read all of John Allen’s papabile of the day stories here.
Attentive readers will notice a subtle shift in the headline today, from papabile, singular, to papabili, plural. That’s because I’m treating three papal candidates in this piece, not just one. We’re going to examine the prospects of the three Americans generally considered the most plausible contenders: Cardinals Timothy Dolan of New York, Sean O’Malley of Boston and Donald Wuerl of Washington.
I’m assuming my readers don’t need a whole lot of biographical background on these three figures. What’s critical is to understand why each might become pope, and why they might not. In this last installment of the “Papabile of the Day” series, that’s precisely what we’ll explore.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.