The world is still recovering from the shocking announcement on Monday, February 11, 2013 by Pope Benedict XVI of his resignation come February 28, 2013 at 8pm. Interest has settled on the choice of his successor who, according to Vatican sources, will be known after elections due to hold by March 31.
Most news organs around the world are projecting the views of Vatican analysts on the issue. In a frontpage article, the New York Times on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 said many Vatican watchers suspect the cardinals will choose someone with better management skills and a personal touch than the “bookish” Benedict. The paper echoes the views of Vatican expert and author of many books on the papacy, John L Allen, who says the Catholic Church needs somebody who can carry the new idea of evangelisation and relight the missionary fires of the church.
Pope Benedict’s resignation raises a glimmer of hope in the developing world, especially in Latin America and Africa that make up 42 per cent and 15 per cent of adherents, respectively. From Latin America, names of successors such as Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, Archbishop of Sao Paolo and the Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, are emerging. From the continent of Africa, Cardinals Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana and Francis Arinze of Nigeria are highly considered. Turkson is one of the most high-ranking African cardinals at the Vatican and currently heads the Vatican’s office for justice and peace. But he told the BBC on Monday February 11 that choosing a Pope based on statistics was not how it should be done. “It doesn’t go by representation…those considerations tend to muddy the water,” he said.
However, if 25 per cent of adherents to the Roman Catholic Church are in Europe, European cardinals form more than half of the over 110 cardinals aged under 80 who are eligible to vote. Speculations fall on candidates such as Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan in Italy, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi who heads the Vatican’s culture office as well as Pope Benedict’s one-time theology student, 68-year-old Viennese Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn who is not only multilingual and affable, but is considered to have Pope Benedict’s blessing.
North America is not left out for Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Cardinal Raymond Burke, the Vatican’s top judge, are contenders alongside Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet who heads Vatican’s office for bishops.
Pope Benedict’s succession, however, leaves several analysts certain that there are no candidates who will take radical decisions such as ending celibacy for priests or starting the ordination of women.
