Friday, April 15, 2005

Handicapping the Conclave

Okay, usual caveats apply. Now, I am not going to give one specific name, that would be unfair to me. instead, I will offer five names and if one of them becomes Pope, I win.

A few notes:

1. Ratzinger is going to fall short and then momentum will begin to build for someone else

2. John Allen is saying that the latin Americans cannot settle on a candidate and are now resigned to the fact that their time may not yet have come

3. If Latin America's star is dropping, the Africa's is rising hugely

So Here are my picks

Pick #1: Cardinal Peter Turkson, Archbishop of Cape Coast, Ghana.

More about him, here, here, and here.





Pick #2:Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, South Africa. Vatican biography. Even John Allen agrees with me here. More info here.

Pick 3: Cardinal Walter Kasper of Germany

Pick 4: Cardinal Schonborn of Austria

Pick 5: Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. He is the one American that has a shot.

The last three need little introdiction.

Also, in a previous post, i definitively stated that the next pope shall be called, Pope Leo XIV. So there you have it.

6 Comments:

Blogger Talmida said...

I'd love to see Marc Ouellet get a few votes. I think he's too young for this conclave, but maybe the next...

And Lustiger! Is he too old? How great would it be to have the 2nd Jewish pope in 2000 years!

1:45 PM  
Blogger Ono said...

Ouellet is one of my dark horses, but he just couldn't crack the top 5. But I would not be surprised to see him make it. I just don't think he's run an effective campaign so far. He needs to start using attack ads before it is too late.

Lustiger would be avoided only because it would create more political problems and many media savvy Cardinals would not want baggage to precede the introduction of a new pope.

For one, it would flush the ant-Semites out of the Church, including out of the Vatican.

1:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ono,

I can go with Leo XIV as the name, but then you have to have someone who will wear it well.

That man, in my opinion, can be none other than Honduran Cardinal Maradiaga. He has been advancing social justice issues already and would step right into the role.

Peace!

2:19 PM  
Blogger Ono said...

"That man, in my opinion, can be none other than Honduran Cardinal Maradiaga. "

Well, but he's not in my top 5, I don't see how that would work.

If he is the guy who was mad at the American media about the scandal, he is in for rough time on this side of the Atlantic.

3:46 PM  
Blogger Brent said...

Great blog, well written, having cool research.

What about Arinze? Too conservative for your taste?

McCarrick? I don't believe his Italian's very good. Recently, he did some awful prayers in favor of Allah at Georgetown, where the Jordanian prince or king, I can't remember which, was awarded an honorary degree.

I referenced it on my blog.

6:22 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Long live Pope Benedict XVI!!!!

David B.

12:52 PM  

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