Could the next pope be African?
BOOKMAKERS have already started taking bets on who the next leader of the Catholic Church may likely be, following Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise resignation last week.
The Holy See has confirmed that the Papal Conclave charged with choosing a successor will begin at the end of February when the impending Pope Benedict (nee Joseph Ratzinger) finishes serving his two-weeks-notice period. The 86-year-old pontiff quit the most senior position in the Catholic Church after serving for eight years, quoting health concerns as his main motivator for the decision.
One particular Lenten resolution that the College of Cardinals might want to take into consideration during this period of discernment could be to promote diversity within the church by electing a pontiff with an ethnic background. Calls to appoint an African as the next leader of the biggest Christian denomination on earth started to make headlines almost immediately after Pope Benedict’s resignation. Italians are traditionally considered the most likely successors to the post, although contemporary trends have refuted this inclination.
With the developing world marking the highest increase in Catholic faithfuls in modern times (while other Christian denominations are shrinking at a rapid speed), a symbolic reflection of this global trend in the papal nomination might be a safe decision for the cardinals to take.
Two Nigerian names have especially been floating on the list of front-runners for this most holiest of holy posts, which will only be determined when the cardinals start to convene in the Sistine Chapel in seclusion from the rest of world at the end of February until a new pope is elected.
John Onaiyekan currently occupies the post of Cardinal in the Nigerian capital city of Abuja, and is known to have cultivated a close relationship with Pope Benedict XVI himself, holding several positions of responsibility within the highest ranks of the Catholic Church. He was appointed a member of the elite Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith just two weeks before Pope Benedict’s resignation – a move that might be interpreted as a signal regarding the impending Pope’s personal preference (although he technically has no say on the matter).
Francis Arinze, on the other hand, took over then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s post as the Cardinal-Bishop of Velletri-Segni (a Roman diocese closely affiliated with the Vatican) after Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, making Arinze a spiritual successor to the Pope in more ways than one. Futhermore, he was considered fit to be Pope before, which Vaticanologists term “papabile”, during the 2005 conclave following Pope John Paul II’s death.
But there is yet another name ranking as the most likely choice among papal candidates coming from the Dark Continent. Ghanaian-born Peter Turkson has formerly served as Archbishop of the Cape Coast in Ghana and is currently holding the position of Cardinal of Ghana. He has at least eight other senior leadership positions within the Catholic Church and has been residing in the Vatican for over a decade, forging relationships and networking among other cardinals, bishops and priests. Bookies are registering the highest bets for Turkson as the most likely candidate to ascend to the papal throne but all bets are off until the smoke clears over the rooftops of Vatican City.
But despite the fancy red shoes, the ivory coloured skull caps and enough golden bling to adorn an entire Houston rap posse, the Vatican has yet to prove that it can be absolutely colourblind when proclaiming “Habemus Papam!” (“We Have a Pope!”).