BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By
Matt Stout / Boston Herald
Buzz is growing around Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley as the next possible pope, according to Vatican watchers, who say Boston’s Roman Catholic archbishop has the background, touch and personality to be a major contender to sit in St. Peter’s chair.
John L. Allen Jr., the Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, wrote in a blog post today that O’Malley has generated a “surprising degree of buzz” with the Italian press covering the Vatican, making the once improbable notion of an American being named pope now “thinkable.”
The growing chatter around O’Malley is based, writes Allen, “partly on the strength of his profile as a reformer on the church’s sexual abuse scandals, and partly because of his Capuchin simplicity as a perceived antidote to the Vatican’s reputation for intrigue and power games.”
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