Gregory X (Teobaldo Visconti)* (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06798a.htm) was not even a priest when elected pope, he was merely archdeacon of Liege. (He had to be quickly ordained priest, then consecrated bishop, before being crowned pope.) But that was a rare case where different Church factions had been deadlocked over the election for three years and they needed an inconspicuous compromise candidate. I doubt it will ever happen again.
*I remember him because he played a role in the story of Marco Polo. (Marco Polo and his travels - Who was Marco Polo? - Silk-Road.com[/url) Polo’s father and uncle, embarking on their second voyage to the East (and taking Marco along this time) wanted to take a papal message to Kublai Khan, who had expressed some curiosity about Catholicism. But the papacy had been vacant for three years (see above). Their last stop in Christendom was the Crusader state of Acre, where Visconti was posted. Right after they left, a messenger came to bring them back to Acre, where Visconti informed them he was the new pope, and gave them the requested letter and gifts, which they took to the Khan.
If you go by that, wouldn’t a Latin American be appropriate? Practically everybody south of the Rio Grande is Catholic. No cite, but they probably outnumber the Catholics of every other continent, including Europe.
I’ve tried searching around, with little success other than the usual three or four names bandied about—does anyone know of a definitive list of candidates, pending its existence?
I’m curious. I’ve heard a lot of folks (not in this thread, necessarily) speculate that the next pope will be Italian, to move back a bit from the experiment of putting a Polish pope in the Office. Why?
I realize that most of the popes have been Italian, and that Italians are overrepresented in the conclave and probably in the Vatican hierarchy in general, but why would it be a selling point to be Italian when the RCC is a worldwide organization, with increasing power outside of Europe? Heck, at the very least, electing a non-Italian pope would be a shot in the arm for the Church in wherever he hails from.
Is it merely tradition?
Chauvanism on the part of the Italians?
Interest in increasing or supporting the secular power of the Vatican as a nation-state, or increasing influence into Italian government?
While I am a baptized-First Communioned-confirmed-graduated from a Catholic High School but fallen away Roman Catholic–I really don’t have a dog in this hunt. Although it will be interesting to see who the next Pope is.
Zagadka is listed as a Charter Member right now. I guess the new software still has a bug or two. Z’s last post is from December 9th or 10th. I think he was the first Public Banning.
Yeesh! Paddy Power has Ratzinger fourth at 7:1?!?!? I swear, some (and by that I mean “most”) people will bet on whoever it is they’ve heard of, even if the guy is more appropriate as Chief Inquisitor than Pope.
I’m a WC Fields fan so I’m putting my money on Godfried Daneels. Great name and a good payoff at 20:1.
According to an interesting news item I saw today he is out of the competition because he is… black.
It is not a question of racism but it involves Nostradamus predictions.
According to this program Nostradamus predicted that after the long pontificate of JPII the next pope would be black and after him the antichrist.
The journalist claimed that the cardinals, (although most of them surely don’t believe in this predictions) wouldn’t want to take a chance
