Candidates For Pope, Guide to the possible candidates who could succeed Pope Benedict XVI,
In addition to several Italians, potential replacements to Benedict XVI come from all over the world, including the US, Canada, South America, Asia & Africa.
Joao Braz de Aviz
Joao Braz de Aviz. 65, of Brazil, the former archbishop of Brasilia, brought fresh air to the Vatican department for religious congregations when he took over in 2011 and eased some strains created by his more dogmatic predecessor. He backs support for the poor in Latin America's liberation theology, but not its leftist political activism.
Timothy Dolan
Dolan, 63, archbishop of New York and head of the U.S. bishops, has made his church a conclave player like never before. His humor and dynamism impress many in the Vatican, where both are often missing, and attract cardinals who want a strong manager and a charismatic preacher.
Marc Ouellet
Canada's Ouellet once said that being pope "would be a nightmare." He would know, having enjoyed the confidence of two popes as a top-ranked Vatican insider. His high-profile position as head of the Vatican's office for bishops, his conservative leanings, his years in Latin America and his work in Rome as president of a key commission for Latin America all make him a favorite to become the first pontiff from the Americas.
Gianfranco Ravasi
Ravasi, the Vatican's culture minister, is an erudite scholar with a modern touch — just the combination some faithful see as ideal for reviving a church beset by scandal and a shrinking flock. The 70-year-old is also one of the favorites among Catholics who long to see a return to the tradition of Italian popes.
Leonardo Sandri
Sandri, 69, is a "trans-Atlantic" figure, born in Buenos Aires to Italian parents. He held the third-highest Vatican post as its chief of staff from 2000 to 2007, but has no pastoral experience.
Odilo Scherer
Archbishop of Brazil, Scherer is known for prolific tweeting, appearances on Brazil's most popular late-night talk show and squeezing into the subway for morning commutes. Brazil's best hope to supply the next pontiff is increasingly being touted as one of the top overall contenders. At the relatively young age of 63, he enthusiastically embraces all new methods for reaching believers, while staying true to a conservative line of Roman Catholic doctrine and hardline positions on social issues such as rejection of same-sex marriage.
Christoph Schoenborn
Schoenborn is a soft-spoken conservative who is ready to listen to those espousing reform. That profile could appeal to fellow cardinals looking to elect a pontiff with the widest-possible appeal to the world's 1 billion Catholics. His Austrian nationality may be his biggest disadvantage: Electors may be reluctant to choose another German speaker as a successor to Benedict.
Angelo Scola
Archbishop of Milan Scola is many Italians' bet to win. An expert on bioethics, he is also well-versed in Islam as head of a foundation to promote Muslim-Christian understanding.
Luis Antonio G. Tagle
The Philippines' Tagle, who became a cardinal only last year, has a charisma often compared to that of the late Pope John Paul, and worked with Pope Benedict at the International Theological Commission.
Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson
Cardinal Turkson of Ghana is the top African candidate. As head of the Vatican justice and peace bureau, he is a spokesman for the church's social conscience and backs world financial reform.
Peter Erdo
Erdo is the son of a deeply religious couple who defied communist repression in Hungary to practice their faith. If elected pope, the 60-year-old would be the second pontiff to come from eastern Europe — following in the footsteps of the late John Paul II, a Pole who left a great legacy helping to topple communism.
Albert Malcolm Ranjith
Benedict XVI picked the Sri Lankan Ranjith to return from Colombo to the Vatican to oversee the church's liturgy and rites in one of his first appointments as pope. The choice of Ranjith in 2005 rewarded a strong voice of tradition — so rigid that some critics regard it as backward-looking. Ranjith in 2010 was named Sri Lanka's second cardinal in history.
Sean Patrick O'Malley
As archbishop of Boston, O'Malley has faced the fallout from the church's abuse scandals for nearly a decade. The fact he is mentioned at all as a potential papal candidate is testament to his efforts to bring together an archdiocese at the forefront of the abuse disclosures.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio
Bergoglio, 76, has spent nearly his entire career at home in Argentina, overseeing churches and shoe-leather priests. The archbishop of Buenos Aires reportedly got the second-most votes after Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 papal election, and he has long specialized in the kind of pastoral work that some say is an essential skill for the next pope.
Angelo Bagnasco
The archbishop of Genoa, Bagnasco also is head of the powerful Italian bishops' conference. Both roles give him outsized influence in the conclave, where Italians represent the biggest national bloc, and could nudge ahead his papal chances if the conclave looks to return the papacy to Italian hands. At 70, Bagnasco is seen as in the right age bracket for papal consideration. But his lack of international experience and exposure could be a major liability.
Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga
To many, Maradiaga embodies the activist wing of the Roman Catholic Church as an outspoken campaigner for human rights, a watchdog on climate change and advocate of international debt relief for poor nations. Others, however, see the 70-year-old Honduran as a reactionary in the other direction: Described as sympathetic to a coup in his homeland and stirring accusations of anti-Semitism for remarks that some believe suggested Jewish interests encouraged extra media attention on church sex abuse scandals.
Joao Braz de Aviz
Joao Braz de Aviz. 65, of Brazil, the former archbishop of Brasilia, brought fresh air to the Vatican department for religious congregations when he took over in 2011 and eased some strains created by his more dogmatic predecessor. He backs support for the poor in Latin America's liberation theology, but not its leftist political activism.
Timothy Dolan
Dolan, 63, archbishop of New York and head of the U.S. bishops, has made his church a conclave player like never before. His humor and dynamism impress many in the Vatican, where both are often missing, and attract cardinals who want a strong manager and a charismatic preacher.
Marc Ouellet
Canada's Ouellet once said that being pope "would be a nightmare." He would know, having enjoyed the confidence of two popes as a top-ranked Vatican insider. His high-profile position as head of the Vatican's office for bishops, his conservative leanings, his years in Latin America and his work in Rome as president of a key commission for Latin America all make him a favorite to become the first pontiff from the Americas.
Gianfranco Ravasi
Ravasi, the Vatican's culture minister, is an erudite scholar with a modern touch — just the combination some faithful see as ideal for reviving a church beset by scandal and a shrinking flock. The 70-year-old is also one of the favorites among Catholics who long to see a return to the tradition of Italian popes.
Leonardo Sandri
Sandri, 69, is a "trans-Atlantic" figure, born in Buenos Aires to Italian parents. He held the third-highest Vatican post as its chief of staff from 2000 to 2007, but has no pastoral experience.
Odilo Scherer
Archbishop of Brazil, Scherer is known for prolific tweeting, appearances on Brazil's most popular late-night talk show and squeezing into the subway for morning commutes. Brazil's best hope to supply the next pontiff is increasingly being touted as one of the top overall contenders. At the relatively young age of 63, he enthusiastically embraces all new methods for reaching believers, while staying true to a conservative line of Roman Catholic doctrine and hardline positions on social issues such as rejection of same-sex marriage.
Christoph Schoenborn
Schoenborn is a soft-spoken conservative who is ready to listen to those espousing reform. That profile could appeal to fellow cardinals looking to elect a pontiff with the widest-possible appeal to the world's 1 billion Catholics. His Austrian nationality may be his biggest disadvantage: Electors may be reluctant to choose another German speaker as a successor to Benedict.
Angelo Scola
Archbishop of Milan Scola is many Italians' bet to win. An expert on bioethics, he is also well-versed in Islam as head of a foundation to promote Muslim-Christian understanding.
Luis Antonio G. Tagle
The Philippines' Tagle, who became a cardinal only last year, has a charisma often compared to that of the late Pope John Paul, and worked with Pope Benedict at the International Theological Commission.
Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson
Cardinal Turkson of Ghana is the top African candidate. As head of the Vatican justice and peace bureau, he is a spokesman for the church's social conscience and backs world financial reform.
Peter Erdo
Erdo is the son of a deeply religious couple who defied communist repression in Hungary to practice their faith. If elected pope, the 60-year-old would be the second pontiff to come from eastern Europe — following in the footsteps of the late John Paul II, a Pole who left a great legacy helping to topple communism.
Albert Malcolm Ranjith
Benedict XVI picked the Sri Lankan Ranjith to return from Colombo to the Vatican to oversee the church's liturgy and rites in one of his first appointments as pope. The choice of Ranjith in 2005 rewarded a strong voice of tradition — so rigid that some critics regard it as backward-looking. Ranjith in 2010 was named Sri Lanka's second cardinal in history.
Sean Patrick O'Malley
As archbishop of Boston, O'Malley has faced the fallout from the church's abuse scandals for nearly a decade. The fact he is mentioned at all as a potential papal candidate is testament to his efforts to bring together an archdiocese at the forefront of the abuse disclosures.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio
Bergoglio, 76, has spent nearly his entire career at home in Argentina, overseeing churches and shoe-leather priests. The archbishop of Buenos Aires reportedly got the second-most votes after Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 papal election, and he has long specialized in the kind of pastoral work that some say is an essential skill for the next pope.
Angelo Bagnasco
The archbishop of Genoa, Bagnasco also is head of the powerful Italian bishops' conference. Both roles give him outsized influence in the conclave, where Italians represent the biggest national bloc, and could nudge ahead his papal chances if the conclave looks to return the papacy to Italian hands. At 70, Bagnasco is seen as in the right age bracket for papal consideration. But his lack of international experience and exposure could be a major liability.
Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga
To many, Maradiaga embodies the activist wing of the Roman Catholic Church as an outspoken campaigner for human rights, a watchdog on climate change and advocate of international debt relief for poor nations. Others, however, see the 70-year-old Honduran as a reactionary in the other direction: Described as sympathetic to a coup in his homeland and stirring accusations of anti-Semitism for remarks that some believe suggested Jewish interests encouraged extra media attention on church sex abuse scandals.
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