ROME
National Catholic Reporter
by Thomas Reese | Mar. 9, 2013
As has been well reported by Joshua McElwee and John Allen, there are currently no frontrunners in the papal election. This could easily change in the next few days before the conclave starts, but it is surprising granted that it has been almost three weeks since Pope Emeritus Benedict announced his resignation. One would think that at least a couple of frontrunners would have surfaced by now.
Prior to the last conclave, everyone recognized Ratzinger was the front runner on the day the conclave began. The same was true for Paul VI and Pius XII. And although John Paul’s election was a surprise, there still were front runners prior to the conclave: Cardinals Giovanni Benelli and Giuseppe Siri. When they deadlocked, the conclave looked for someone outside of Italy.
Why no front runner? Here are four hypotheses.
1. The cardinals need more time to get to know each other. Remember, 24 of the cardinals were appointed last year. That is one-fifth of the electors. While the curial cardinals and the more senior cardinals may know most of the cardinals, the newer cardinals are still matching faces to bios. The cardinals from outside Rome also know little about each other. This was the argument of those who did not want to rush into the conclave. Why hurry? This is the most important thing the cardinals will ever do in their lives.
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