With John Paul's passing we're left with a hole that's gonna be hard to fill. From what I've seen of the other candidates I think Francis Arinze or Ivan Dias would be good choices.

I don't know too much about them. I do hope that it's not Cardinal Ratzinger.

I've heard talk about an African Cardinal who's name I would butcher because I don't have it here.

Personally I would like to see a Pope from either Africa or South America. I feel that would highlight a lot of the injustice in the Third World.

Francis Arinze is the one from Africa. Ivan Dias is from India. He's a bit of a globe trotter.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio would also be good, but he's a Jesuit so he may not accept the role.

I just read about Jorge Mario Bergoglio-- a 68-year old Jesuit who spends a lot of time with the people. He rides the bus and uses public transportation for example. On Holy thursday, he washed the feet of 12 AIDS patients. Known for writing on meditation and spirituality.

A great candidate in my opinion, but yes, the Jesuit thing unfortunately hurts him with those in the Church that see the Jesuits as too liberal.

However, western europe would be more likely to support a Jesuit, and so he might be a nice tie between Europe and Latin America.

It always baffled me, with the Vatican, as to how so many of their leaders are old men, while their Jesus and His Apostles were so young... I know there is wisdom in age, but stubborness as well. Why wouldn't they consider a thirty year old for Papal duties?

It's just somehing I wonder really, I wouldn't know why, but wonder it.

Well Jesus selected his successor out of a pool of 12. Peter out of maybe a couple of hundred.

There are now more than 1 billion Catholics. I guess it takes a while for them to make a global name for themselves...

The other reason I suppose that this particular group is so old is that they were all picked by John Paul II. So even if he picked people that were 15 years younger than him, they're still 71 or so.

I suppose another reason is that a 30 year old could be pope for 30-40 years. Maybe 50 or 60 if they live like John Paul II. I don't think that having one pope for that long would be a good thing for the Church, especially given how the Church needs to adapt constantly to new and fresh challenges.

Anyway, at least theoretically, they COULD pick someone that was 30 years old...

I believe, if I am not mistaken, that any unmarried Catholic male is eligable to be Pope.

You are not mistaken

True, I could indeed be elected Pope, but only if God has an incredibly SICK sense of humor.

That being said, typically, following a papacy that is as long lived as JP II's what the college of Cardinals does is vote in a pope who has one foot in the grave to give them time to collectively talk about what direction the church should go in before electing a longer serving Pope.

Of course the last time they did that they elected John the XXIII who started Vatican II. The holy spirit tends to work in mysterious ways, that being said I'm praying for a Pope that isn't Ratzinger.

So if I converted, I could be pope? - :lol: Interesting... :lol:

Who is this Ratzinger, and why would he be such a devious choice?

I'll put it to you this way, Ratzinger has been picked to preside over the election (I think that was the last I read anyway) and gave a homily to the cardinals in which he hinted at the fact that they prayed they would pick the person God wanted, but that it was important to pick a pope who would preserve the traditional tenants of the Catholic church against the assualts of the modern world.

Ratzinger

There's a fairly good profile on him. You can also check out other people the BBC has selected as "front runners" we really have no idea though. JPII wasn't picked as a front runner and was largely unexpected. That being said I agree with pyscholopher that Bergoglio would make a great Pope