World

9, May 2025

Pope Leo says Church must illuminate ‘dark nights of this world’ in first Mass ⁰

Pope Leo XIV is celebrating his first Mass, the day after being elected pontiff.

He tells the cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel that he hopes his election can help the Catholic Church bring light to the “dark nights of this world”

The Pope has said the church must do more work in places where there is a “lack of faith” as part of its mission.

“Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent,” he tells the Cardinals.

He adds that areas where “technology, money, success, power or pleasure” are preferred are “where our missionary outreach is desperately needed”.

“I know I can rely on each and every one of you to walk with me as we continue as a Church, as a community of friends of Jesus, as believers, to announce the good news, to announce the Gospel,” he says.

Source: BBC

8, May 2025

Vatican: Cardinal Robert Prevost is now Pope Leo XIV ⁰

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has been announced as the new Pope. Here’s a brief overview of his background and history:

Early Life and Education

– Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1955

– Holds degrees from Villanova University in Pennsylvania, Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome

Career Highlights

– Joined the Augustinian mission in Peru in 1985, serving as a priest and later as bishop of Chiclayo in northern Peru

– Elected as the head of the Augustinians’ Chicago-based province in 1999

– Served as prior general of the worldwide Augustinian order from 2001 to 2013

– Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under Pope Francis, advising on bishop appointments worldwide

Notable Qualities

– Languages: Speaks English, Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese, with reading proficiency in Latin and German

– Pastoral Experience: Served in various roles, including teaching in the diocesan seminary, leading a parish, and working with the Roman Curia

– Synodality: A vocal proponent of Pope Francis’ emphasis on synodality, promoting inclusivity and participation in church structures

Papal Election

– Elected as the new Pope after a conclave of 133 cardinals in Rome’s Sistine Chapel

– Chose the papal name Pope Leo XIV.

– Emerged onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to greet spectators after his identity was confirmed

8, May 2025

Canticum Africae – The Case for the First Black Pope ⁰

On Saturday, April 26, 2025, the earth reclaimed a humble servant of God. Pope Francis, the great bridge-builder, the pilgrim of mercy, now rests with the Apostles. His passing leaves the Throne of Peter vacant at a moment when the Church stands, once again, at the crossroads of history. In the hush of the great cathedral, beneath the vaulted frescoed ceilings of the Sistine Chapel; incense rising like a prayer, a silent yearning stirs the Body of Christ. It is a yearning not for novelty, nor for mere symbolism, but for the full consummation of the Church’s universality – a universality long proclaimed, yet never fully embodied. The question before the College of Cardinals now in conclave, is not simply who shall wear the white vestments, but what kind of Church shall rise from this hour of reckoning. And to that sacred inquiry, Providence itself seems to whisper: it is time, it is fitting, it is just; that the next Vicar of Christ be chosen from Africa. The Church must be universal not only in name, but in soul. A pontificate rooted in African soil would remind a weary world that the Gospel is not a relic of the past but the beating heart of humanity’s future. The time has come; indeed, it is long overdue, for a Black Pope, an African Pontiff, to ascend the Throne of Peter. Not as an act of tokenism, nor as a sop to modern sensibilities, but as a recognition of a truth that has stood shimmering, quietly undeniable, across the ages: that Africa, cradle of faith, cradle of humanity, must now, too, be the cradle of leadership.

The Forgotten Cradle of the Faith

Africa is no stranger to the early light of Christianity. Long before the faith crossed the forests of Germania or the icy fields of Britain, the faith that built Rome once flourished in Alexandria, in Carthage, in Hippo and along the Nile. When Peter was yet securing the infant Church in Jerusalem, African theologians were already carving the foundations of Christian thought. Was it not in Africa that Saint Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo, penned his Confessions and the City of God, shaping forever the heart of Christian philosophy? Was it not in Alexandria that the Catechetical School first taught the mysteries of faith and reason side by side? It was on African soil that saints like Augustine, Tertullian, Cyprian, and Athanasius – giants of orthodoxy -shaped the very doctrines that the Universal Church holds sacred today. Africa, ancient and enduring, is not a newcomer to the faith, but one of its first and noblest stewards. The Church’s early councils bore African blood and breath; her creeds, her understanding of Christ’s dual nature, were hammered on African anvils. Thus, the notion that Africa is a periphery to Catholicism is a fiction – a calumny against history itself.

Demographics as Destiny

Today, the face of Catholicism is no longer exclusively European. It is brown, and black, and golden. It beats with the drums of Lagos and the hymns of Nairobi.The largest Catholic seminary in the world is Bigard Memorial Seminary in Enugu, Nigeria, with a capacity of over 1,000 seminarians. According to the latest Vatican statistics, Africa is experiencing the most significant growth in the number of priests, although Europe maintains the highest total number, amid a continuing decline. The global distribution of Catholic priests, shows Europe with 157,577 (- 2,745 from 2022). The Americas -119,145, (-164); Asia – 72,911 (+1,160); Oceania – 4,438 (-69). With 53,659 priests, an increase of 1, 676, Africa now produces the highest number of priests in terms of growth rate. By 2050, according to Pew Research projections, Africa will house over 40% of the world’s Catholics. Priestly vocations are booming in Africa, while they wane across Europe and North America. The seminaries of Abidjan are full; the seminaries of Brussels and Milan are echoingly empty. Shall the mother church ignore where her lifeblood flows most freely? No organization, divine or human, can survive if it refuses to recognize where its heart beats strongest. In ecclesial terms, demography is not just destiny; it is revelation, a sacred whisper of the Holy Spirit, beckoning toward renewal.

The Gifts of the African Church

Today, while secularism nibbles at the roots of faith elsewhere, the African Church blooms with astonishing vitality. It is in the crowded cathedrals of Kinshasa, the vibrant parishes of Nairobi, and the humble chapels of rural Nigeria that the fervor of early Christianity finds its modern echo. Vocations are rising, pews are filled, and hope is alive. Africa offers the Church not merely numbers, but conviction -the deep, muscular faith that the Gospel demands in every age. African Catholicism is not merely growing; it is flourishing with a vibrancy, a sacramentality, and a communal spirituality that many Western parishes have lost. Where Western secularism advances like a cold, sterile tide, African Catholicism remains rich in ritual, in song, in the thick texture of life lived with God. Moreover, African theologians are offering the Church fresh wisdom – voices who understand suffering and resurrection not as abstractions, but as lived realities. Consider the profound witness of Nigerian Catholics who attend mass even under threat of terrorist bombs. Consider the Congolese priests who walk barefoot into villages abandoned by governments but not by grace. Is it not fitting, is it not providential, that from a land so intimately acquainted with the cross should come he who must wear the Fisherman’s Ring?

Obstacles, Real and Perceived

Yes, there are challenges. Skeptics will whisper about “inexperience,” about “cultural divides,” about Africa’s supposed “unreadiness” for the burdens of Peter’s Chair. But these are the same tired arguments once raised against non-Italian Popes, against John Paul II from Poland, against Francis from Argentina. Each time, the Spirit confounded the cautious. Moreover, African cardinals are among the most learned, multilingual, and diplomatically seasoned leaders within the College. Cardinal Peter Turkson (Ghana), Cardinal Robert Sarah (Guinea), Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besengu (DR Congo),and others have long been voices of theological depth and global perspective. If anything, it is precisely an African Pope who knows both suffering and hope, who could speak most authentically to a fractured world. He would understand migration not as a policy debate, but as a brother’s burden. He would see climate change not as an abstract theory, but as a personal lament for the fields and rivers of his youth.

The soul of the Church hangs now in a delicate balance, between a weary past and the fierce winds of an uncertain future. And so, we plead: Lift your eyes toward the rising sun. Look to Africa. Africa – that ancient land baptized by the blood of martyrs long before many parts of Europe knew His name. Africa – where the faith blooms not from nostalgia, but from living waters that spring from the thirsty earth. Africa – where the Gospel is not a weary ritual but a blazing fire that ignites hearts from Lagos to Luanda, from Yaoundé to Dar es Salaam. The Church in Africa sings while others grow silent. She multiplies while others dwindle. She weeps with the poor, wrestles with injustice, dreams new dreams beneath suffering skies. In Africa, the Church is young and vibrant, as the Christ she serves is forever young, forever alive.

The Poetic Fulfillment of Catholic Universality

Imagine then, and Picture it: white smoke curls into the Roman sky. Saint Peter’s Square holds its breath as the announcement is made:”Habemus Papam!”And from the Loggia of Blessings steps forth a Shepherd with skin kissed by the African sun, eyes burning with the fire of Pentecost. Imagine the millions of black boys and girls across the world, from Harlem to Harare, from Soweto to São Paulo, who would see themselves, perhaps for the first time, in the Vicar of Christ. Imagine the world seeing, not a rupture, but the beautiful continuity of a Church finally, fully Catholic: universal, whole, complete. This is not about politics. It is about providence. The Holy Spirit, ever restless, is moving again across the waters. Will the Church, ancient and ever new, listen?

The Throne of Peter cries out for a shepherd who understands both Calvary and Pentecost. A Pope who knows exile and hope, scars and resurrection. A Pope whose very life tells the story of a Church not retreating, but marching forward with joy. Africa offers you such men: Wise as the desert fathers, joyful as the first believers, tested as gold in the furnace of trial. Electing a Pope from Africa would not be a novelty; it would be a return – a return to the universal heart of the Church that beats in every language, every tribe, and every nation under heaven. And it would be a prophecy: that the Church is not dying; she is moving. That the Spirit has not abandoned us; He has gone ahead to Galilee, to Nairobi, to Kinshasa, to Abidjan, to Kampala. Therefore, O Princes of the Church do not seek merely to preserve what was. Dare to proclaim what can be. Breathe deep the Spirit that once shattered the barriers of Babel. Follow not the compass of caution, but the bright and burning star of Providence. The time for a Black Pope is not a political slogan. It is the flowering of history’s long-buried seed. It is time to let Africa give back to Rome the gift she once so freely gave: faith, resilience, and a leadership born not of conquest, but of the Cross.

The hour has come. The call is clear. Africa awaits. Christ awaits.

In filial hope,

By Valerian Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

7, May 2025

World awaits white smoke as cardinals begin conclave to elect new pope ⁰

Roman Catholic cardinals begin the task of electing a successor to Pope Francis on Wednesday, locking themselves away from the world until they choose the man they hope can unite the 1.4 billion-strong Church. Follow our live coverage for the latest developments.

The “princes” of the Catholic Church sequester themselves Wednesday behind the Vatican’s medieval walls for the start of a conclave to elect the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, a successor to Pope Francis who died last month at the age of 88.

The 133 cardinals from 70 countries will be locked inside the Sistine Chapel, where they will vote in secret and silence, having first surrendered their cellphones to be free from outside interference, until they find a new leader for the 1.4 billion-member church.

Source: France 24

5, May 2025

Francis’s popemobile converted into clinic for Gazan children ⁰

The iconic open-sided vehicle, designed to allow the pontiff to greet crowds of well-wishers, has been transferred to Caritas Jerusalem and will head to Gaza if and when Israel opens a humanitarian corridor.

The car, a converted Mitsubishi, was used by the pope during a 2014 visit to Bethlehem and had since been on display, gathering dust and rust. It has now been repaired and refurbished as a mobile clinic.

“With the vehicle, we will be able to reach children who today have no access to healthcare — children who are injured and malnourished,” said Peter Brune, secretary general of Caritas Sweden.

Brune told AFP that Sweden’s Cardinal Anders Arborelius had asked the late pope, who died on April 21 aged 88, that the spare vehicle be put to use providing essential frontline healthcare to Palestinian children.

It will be fitted with medical equipment and a fridge for medicines and be assigned a driver and a team of doctors.

The popemobile will be fitted with medical equipment and a fridge for medicines

“This vehicle represents the love, care and closeness shown by His Holiness for the most vulnerable, which he expressed throughout the crisis,” said Anton Asfar, secretary general of Caritas Jerusalem.

It was not clear, however, if or when the aid agency’s hoped-for humanitarian corridor would open.

Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid political deadlock over how to build on a two-month ceasefire in its war against Hamas, which was sparked by the militants’ October 2023 attack.

On Monday, Israel’s security cabinet approved an expansion of military operations that would lead to what an official described as the “conquest” of the Palestinian territory.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Sunday that at least 2,436 people had been killed since Israel resumed its campaign on March 18, bringing the overall death toll from the war to 52,535.

Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Source: AFP

5, May 2025

Cardinals prepare to elect next pope at conclave ⁰

Cardinals from all over the world are poised to elect a successor to Pope Francis at the conclave that begins Wednesday.

There are currently 135 cardinals who are under age 80 and eligible to vote in the conclave, hailing from 71 different countries in the most geographically diverse conclave in history.

Source: France 24

2, May 2025

“Pope Francis never forgets that Cameroon beat Argentina in the 1990 World Cup” ⁰

Bishops in Cameroon have gathered in the capital Yaoundé for their 50th Ordinary Plenary, but the death of Pope Francis and the conclave to choose a new pope that begins on May 7 in Rome, loom large at the gathering.

At a Mass to kick off the deliberations, the Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon, Archbishop Julio Murat told journalists that Francis’s legacy in Cameroon and the world will outlive his life on earth.

“The very fact of the Presence of all the Archbishops and Bishops of Cameroon here this evening to celebrate this Mass is a testament that the Pope’s Pontificate touched the very hearts of Cameroon,” Murat said.

“In his last testament, Pope Francis offered his life, his prayer, his work for peace and fraternity in the world. He himself preached many times about mercy, and the Holy Door of the Jubilee for Mercy was opened in the geographical heart of Africa, Bangui right next door to us,” the representative of the Holy See in Cameroon said.

That door was opened on November 29, 2015, by Pope Francis when he visited the Central African Republic.

“He [Francis] also promulgated the decree to make Baba Simon a venerable and presented him to the world –a Cameroonian. So his heritage will long last his life, and now we know he prays to us from heaven,” the archbishop said.

The President of the Cameroon Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya, added that the bishops were “united with the Universal Church in prayer for peace in his soul.”

“Pope Francis was a father to me,” Nkea told Crux.

“It is Pope Francis who appointed me Archbishop,” he said.

Nkea narrated little instances during which he had to be up and personal with the pope, like buttoning the pope’s cassock, and the pope asking him to take out his phone and record a greeting for the people of Bamenda.

“Pope Francis never forgets that Cameroon beat Argentina in the 1990 World Cup,” Nkea recalls the pontiff joking with him during one of his visits to the Vatican.

“His simplicity was phenomenal,” the archbishop said.

Lay Christians were also full of praise for the late pope. Pascaline Ndifor, a member of the Catholic Women’s Association, told Crux that she remembers Pope Francis for his humility.

“The memory I keep of him is that of humility, and his prayerful nature. This year, we are celebrating the Jubilee Year of Hope. It teaches us the humility and the simplicity the late Pope taught us-it is the way to Christ. That what touches me so much-the simple, spiritual life he teaches us,” she said.

Bessy Bah Awah also remembers Francis for his simplify and humility, recalling a time last year when she was among a delegation of Catholic women who visited the Holy See during which the Holy Father granted them an audience.

“He was very particular about the role of women in the Church. That touched me, and in addition to his humility, I think that he has left a great legacy-a legacy of humility, simplicity and love,” she said.

Maurine Dengo, a social worker, calls Francis “my social worker pope” because of the pontiff’s efforts to bring respite to “the less privileged, the vulnerable, the poor, the marginalized, the suffering…everything that has to do with my profession, Pope Francis was doing it.”

As the world waits for the Conclave to begin, Nkea says the Catholic Church in Cameroon is in unison with the Universal Church “to pray for the Cardinals who are already in Rome, in the conclave, to choose another Holy Father.”

“And as you can see, it is the Holy Spirit that guides the Cardinals in this exercise of choosing another Holy Father for us. And we pray, as the Holy Spirit has done all the time, he will give us a Pope who will manage the Church according to the heart of Jesus Christ,” the archbishop said.

Nkea said that that the 50th plenary of the bishops focuses on the daily running of the Church in Cameroon and to look at the future, especially in this year of hope.

He noted that the major issues preoccupying the bishops are “the socio-economic situation of the country” and the presidential election scheduled to take place in November.

The bishops had already issued pastoral letters about the two issues, and the archbishop of Bamenda called on Cameroonians to take a closer look at those letters in order to “ensure that everything is going to pass during the election month in peace and tranquility. This is what we ask of our people.”

Source: Crux

28, April 2025

Vatican: Conclave to elect new pope will start on May 7 ⁰

The death of Pope Francis has set in motion a centuries-old ritual to select a new pope. Cardinals will meet in a secret conclave to elect the new global Church leader starting May 7, the Vatican said Monday. Cardinals have been gathering in Vatican City since the pontiff died on April 21, but few clues have emerged as to who they might elect.

The date of May 7 was decided during a closed-door meeting of cardinals at the Vatican, the first since the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday, a source from the Holy See told Reuters.

Dozens of “Princes of the Church” from across the world have been gathering at the Vatican since the 88-year-old Argentine pontiff died on April 21.

But so far there are few clues as to who they might choose next.

Source: France 24

26, April 2025

Who will be the next pope? Key candidates in an unpredictable process ⁰

Who will be the next pope? The decision could have a profound impact on the Catholic Church and the world’s 1.4 billion baptised Roman Catholics.

It also promises to be a highly unpredictable and open process for a host of reasons.

The College of Cardinals will meet in conclave in the Sistine Chapel to debate and then vote for their preferred candidates until a single name prevails.

With 80% of the cardinals appointed by Pope Francis himself, they are not only electing a pope for the first time, but will offer a broad global perspective.

For the first time in history, fewer than half of those given a vote will be European.

And although the college may be dominated by his appointments, they were not exclusively “progressive” or “traditionalist”.

For those reasons, it is harder than ever to predict who will be elected the next pope.

Could the cardinals elect an African or an Asian pope, or might they favour one of the old hands of the Vatican administration?

Here are some of the names being mentioned as Francis’s potential successor.

Pietro Parolin

Nationality: Italian

Age: 70

Softly spoken Italian Cardinal Parolin was the Vatican’s secretary of state under Pope Francis – making him the pope’s chief adviser. The secretary of state also heads the Roman Curia, the Church’s central administration.

Having acted effectively as deputy pope, he could be considered a frontrunner.

He is viewed by some as more likely to prioritise diplomacy and a global outlook than the purity of Catholic dogma. His critics consider that a problem, while his supporters see a strength.

But he has been critical of the legalisation of same-sex marriage around the world, calling a landmark 2015 vote in favourin the Republic of Ireland “a defeat for humanity”.

The bookmakers may back him but Cardinal Parolin will be well aware of an old Italian saying that stresses the uncertainty of the pope-picking process: “He who enters a conclave as a pope, leaves it as a cardinal.”

Some 213 of the previous 266 popes have been Italian and even though there has not been an Italian pope in 40 years, the pivot of the upper echelons of the Church away from Italy and Europe may mean there may not be another for now.

Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle

Getty Images Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle wears a red cap on his head as he looks away from camera in a head and shoulders portrait, while he attends a Mass with newly appointed cardinals presided by Pope Francis at St. Peter's Basilica on 8 December

Nationality: Filipino

Age: 67

Could the next pope come from Asia?

Cardinal Tagle has decades of pastoral experience – meaning he has been an active Church leader among the people as opposed to a diplomat for the Vatican or cloistered expert on Church law.

The Church is massively influential in the Philippines, where about 80% of the population is Catholic. The country currently has a record five members of the College of Cardinals – which could make for a significant lobbying faction if they all back Cardinal Tagle.

He is considered a moderate within the Catholic definition, and has been dubbed the “Asian Francis” because of a dedication to social issues and sympathy for migrants that he shared with the late pope.

He has opposed abortion rights, calling them “a form of murder” – a position in line with the Church’s broader stance that life begins at conception. He has also spoken against euthanasia.

But in 2015 when he was Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Tagle called for the Church to reassess its “severe” stance towards gay people, divorcees and single mothers, saying past harshness had done lasting harm and left people feeling “branded”, and that each individual deserved compassion and respect.

The cardinal was considered a candidate to be pope as far back as the 2013 conclave in which Francis was elected.

Asked a decade ago how he viewed suggestions he could be next, he replied: “I treat it like a joke! It’s funny.”

Fridolin Ambongo Besungu

AFP Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo wears a green robe as he holds a smoking urn up above ornate gold wine cups and a cross on a table next to a book inside the Notre Dame du Congo Cathedral in Kinshasa on 9 February.

Nationality: Congolese

Age: 65

It’s very possible the next pope could be from Africa, where the Catholic Church continues to add millions of members. Cardinal Ambongo is a leading candidate, hailing from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

He has been Archbishop of Kinshasa for seven years, and was appointed cardinal by Pope Francis.

He is a cultural conservative, opposing blessings for same-sex marriage, stating that “unions of persons of the same sex are considered contradictory to cultural norms and intrinsically evil”.

Though Christianity is the majority religion in the DRC, Christians there have faced death and persecution at the hands of jihadist group Islamic State and associated rebels. Against that backdrop, Cardinal Ambongo is viewed as a fierce advocate for the Church.

But in a 2020 interview, he spoke in favour of religious plurality, saying: “Let Protestants be Protestants and Muslims be Muslims. We are going to work with them. But everyone has to keep their own identity.”

Such comments could lead some cardinals to wonder if he fully embraces their sense of mission – in which Catholics hope to spread the Church’s word throughout the world.

Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson

Reuters A mid-crop of Cardinal Peter Turkson looking solemnly ahead while wearing traditional religious robes along with others outside St. Peter's Basilica in April 2019.

Nationality: Ghanaian

Age: 76

If chosen by his peers, the influential Cardinal Turkson would likewise have the distinction of being the first African pope for 1,500 years.

Like Cardinal Ambongo, he has claimed not to want the job. “I’m not sure whether anyone does aspire to become a pope,” he told the BBC in 2013.

Asked if Africa had a good case to provide the next pope based on the Church’s growth on the continent, he said he felt the pope shouldn’t be chosen based on statistics, because “those types of considerations tend to muddy the waters”.

He was the first Ghanaian to be made a cardinal, back in 2003 under Pope John Paul II.

Like Cardinal Tagle, Cardinal Turkson was considered a potential pope a decade later, when Francis was chosen. In fact, bookmakers made him the favourite ahead of voting.

A guitarist who once played in a funk band, Cardinal Turkson is known for his energetic presence.

Like many cardinals from Africa, he leans conservative. However, he has opposed the criminalisation of gay relationships in African countries including his native Ghana.

In a BBC interview in 2023, while Ghana’s parliament was discussing a bill imposing harsh penalties on LGBTQ+ people, Turkson said he felt homosexuality should not be treated as an offence.

In 2012, he was accused of making fear-mongering predictions over the spread of Islam in Europe at a Vatican conference of bishops, for which he later apologised.

Peter Erdo

Nationality: Hungarian

Age: 72

A cardinal since the age of 51, Peter Erdo is highly regarded in the Church in Europe, having twice led the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences from 2006 to 2016.

He is well known among African cardinals and he has worked on Catholic relations with the Orthodox Church.

The archbishop of Budapest and primate of Hungary grew up in a Catholic family under communism, and he is considered a potential compromise candidate.

Erdo played a prominent role in Pope Francis’s two visits to Hungary in 2021 and 2023, and he was part of the conclaves that elected Francis and his predecessor Pope Benedict.

His conservative views on the family have found favour with some parts of the Church and he has navigated the “illiberal democracy” of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. During Europe’s migrant crisis in 2015, he said the Church would not take in migrants as it was tantamount to human trafficking.

Angelo Scola

Nationality: Italian

Age: 83

Only cardinals under 80 can vote in the conclave, but Angelo Scola could still be elected.

The former Archbishop of Milan was a frontrunner in 2013 when Francis was chosen, but he is thought to have fallen victim to the adage of entering the conclave as Pope and leaving as cardinal.

His name has resurfaced ahead of the conclave, because of a book he is publishing this week on old age. The book features a preface written by Pope Francis shortly before he was admitted to hospital in which he said “death is not the end of everything, but the beginning of something”.

Francis’s words show genuine affection for Scola, but the college of cardinals might not see his focus on old age as ideal for a new pope.

Reinhard Marx

Nationality: German

Age: 71

Germany’s top Catholic cleric is also very much a Vatican insider too.

The Archbishop of Munich and Freising was chosen as an adviser when Francis became pope in 2013. For 10 years he advised the Pope on Church reform and still oversees financial reform of the Vatican.

He has advocated a more accommodating approach towards homosexuals or transgender people in Catholic teaching.

But in 2021 he offered to resign over serious mistakes in tackling child sexual abuse in Germany’s Catholic Church. That resignation was rejected by Francis.

Two years ago he left the Council of Cardinals, the Pope’s most important advisory body, in what was seen in Germany as a setback for his career in the Church.

Marc Ouellet

Nationality: Canadian

Age: 80

Cardinal Ouellet has twice before been seen as a potential candidate for Pope, in 2005 and 2013.

For years he ran the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, which chooses candidates for the episcopate around the world, so he has played a significant and formative role in vetting the future members of the Catholic hierarchy.

As another octogenarian, he will not be able to play a part in the conclave itself, which may hinder his chances.

Ouellet is viewed as a conservative with a modern outlook, who is strongly in favour of maintaining the principle of celibacy for priests.

He opposes the ordination of women priests, but he has called for a greater role for women in running the Catholic Church, saying that “Christ is male, the Church is feminine”.

Robert Prevost

Getty Images US cardinal Robert Francis Prevost attends the Easter Vigil Mass at St. Peter's Basilica on April 19, 2025

Nationality: American

Age: 69

Could the papacy go to an American for the first time?

Chicago-born Cardinal Prevost is certainly seen as having many of the necessary qualities for the role.

Two years ago Pope Francis chose Prevost to replace Marc Ouellet as prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, handing him the task of selecting the next generation of bishops.

He worked for many years as a missionary in Peru before being made an archbishop there.

Prevost is not just considered an American, but as someone who headed the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

He is seen a reformer, but at 69 might be viewed as too young for the papacy. His period as archbishop in Peru was also clouded by allegations of covering up sexual abuse claims, which were denied by his diocese.

Robert Sarah

Nationality: Guinean

Age: 79

Well-liked by conservatives in the Church, Cardinal Sarah is known for his adherence to doctrine and traditional liturgy and was often considered opposed to Pope Francis’s reformist leanings.

The son of a fruit-picker, Sarah became the youngest archbishop aged 34 when Pope John Paul II appointed him prelate in Conakry in Guinea.

He has had a long and impressive career, retiring in 2021 as head of the Vatican’s office that oversees the Catholic Church’s liturgical rites.

While not considered a favourite for the papacy, he could attract strong support from conservative cardinals.

Pierbattista Pizzaballa

Nationality: Italian

Age: 60

Ordained in Italy when he was 25, Pizzaballa moved to Jerusalem the following month and has lived there ever since.

Pope Francis made him Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem five years ago and later cardinal, and Pizzaballa has spoken of the city as “the heart of the life of this world”.

Fellow cardinals will have been impressed by his deep understanding of Israelis and Palestinians and the ongoing war in Gaza.

However, his relative young age and inexperience as a cardinal may count against him, as could his affinity to Francis among cardinals seeking a change in direction.

Michael Czerny

Nationality: Canadian

Age: 78

Cardinal Czerny was appointed cardinal by Pope Francis and is like him a Jesuit, a leading order of the Catholic Church known for its charitable and missionary work around the world.

Although he was born in the former Czechoslovakia, his family moved to Canada when he was two.

He has worked widely in Latin America and in Africa, where he founded the African Jesuit Aids Network and taught in Kenya.

Czerny is popular with progressives in the Church and was considered close to Pope Francis. He is currently head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Human Integral Development.

Although a strong candidate, it seems unlikely the cardinals would choose a second Jesuit pope in succession.

Source: BBC

26, April 2025

Pope Francis going home to rest! ⁰

Pope Francis’ funeral has taken place in the Vatican, and his coffin has arrived at the church in Rome where he’ll be buried –

Pope Francis “touched minds and hearts” and wanted to “build bridges, not walls”, said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who led the service

Dozens of leaders and dignitaries – including Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky, and Prince William – joined an estimated 250,000 mourners, with 50,000 inside St Peter’s Square itself

Trump and Zelensky met inside St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral – the White House called the 15-minute talk “very productive” – and are due to meet again today

The Ukrainians also released a picture of Trump and Zelensky in conversation with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron

Source: BBC