# Who is papable right now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 19, 2025, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475 "2025-02-19T01:01:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/1 "2025-02-19T01:01:02Z")
Pope Francis has been battling health issues for a couple of years now. The 88 year old has double pneumonia and doctors are calling his medical issues “complex”. Assuming he passes away in 2025, what cardinals are front runners to be elected the new Pope? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/2 "2025-02-19T01:11:32Z")
Some Catholics I’ve talked to mentioned Cardinals Pietro Paralin or Peter Turkson. The former is close to Pope Francis and serves as secretary of state, the latter is more of a conservative favorite. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/3 "2025-02-19T01:56:49Z")
I think there’s a typo in your thread title. > **[Papabile](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papabile)** > > Papabile (/pəˈpɑːbɪleɪ/ pə-PAH-bil-ay, .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}UK also /-li/ -⁠ee, Italian: \[paˈpaːbile\]; pl. papabili; lit. 'pop(e)able' or 'able to be pope') is an unofficial Italian term first coined by Vaticanologists and now used internationally in many languages to describe a Catholic man, in practice always a car In ... ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/4 "2025-02-19T02:24:59Z")
> **Hid off topic remark. WE?** > > Elon Musk? ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/5 "2025-02-19T06:35:35Z")
He’s technically Anglican, having been baptised as one. But I imagine he is either atheist or scientologist. One extreme or the other. In any case, not eligible. He could become the power behind the Holy See, though… ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/6 "2025-02-19T06:39:17Z")
> **Hid off topic remark. WE?** > > He’ll be running the Department Of Papal Efficiency. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/7 "2025-02-19T08:47:56Z")
The DOPE? Jeesusss… Wonder how long it will take after Francispope passes away until temper tanTrump claims he has a right to nominate a real pope, an American true believer as seen on TV, not those woke pedophile turn-the-other-cheekers from failing Europe that have no divisions to counter Putin. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/8 "2025-02-19T09:06:44Z")
Concerning the OP: this is the **[list of current catholic cardinals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_cardinals)**. There are 252 in total, 138 (the German page says 137) cardinal electors, who, I guess, are more likely to be elected pope. Any baptized male Catholic can be elected pope, although traditionally, the pope is chosen from among the College of Cardinals. Only cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote in the papal conclave that elects the new pope. Then there is the saying in Spanish that he who enters the conclave as pope leaves the conclave as cardinal. That means that favourites never win this contest. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/9 "2025-02-19T09:29:55Z")
With the way things are going, we’ll get the latest version of a Borgia. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/10 "2025-02-19T11:13:56Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Any baptized male Catholic can be elected pope Hey, hey! I AM IN THE RUNNING! And I can blow smoke up that chimney. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/11 "2025-02-19T11:23:51Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > With the way things are going, we’ll get the latest version of a Borgia. Don’t be so gloomy. After all, it’s not that awful. Like the fella says… ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/12 "2025-02-19T11:40:05Z")
What does he say? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/13 "2025-02-19T12:35:21Z")
> In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/14 "2025-02-19T13:28:55Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. Nitpick: The **[cuckoo clock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuckoo_clock)** is not Swiss. > It is unknown who invented the cuckoo clock and where the first one was made. It is thought that much of its development and evolution was made in the [Black Forest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Forest) area in southwestern Germany (in the modern state of [Baden-Württemberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baden-W%C3%BCrttemberg)), the region where the cuckoo clock was popularized and from where it was exported to the rest of the world, becoming world-famous from the mid-1850s on. And the rest of the quote is bullshit too. Claiming that [**Baden-Würtemberg was a peaceful place**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wars_involving_W%C3%BCrttemberg) has been wrong since at least Roman times, probably for longer. The Peasant’s War may have been one of the cruelest wars before the advent of the machine gun. And the Renaissance was not a gift from the Borgias. Though eating with forks in Europe perhaps was. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/15 "2025-02-19T14:10:15Z")
> **Hid off topic remark. WE?** > > > [@TriPolar](#): > > > > He’ll be running the Department Of Papal Efficiency. > > 👏 👏 👏 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/16 "2025-02-19T14:32:33Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Elon Musk? > [@TriPolar](#): > > He’ll be running the Department Of Papal Efficiency. > [@solost](#): > > 👏 👏 👏 **Moderating** : Please, nothing more on Musk. This is not a thread for Musk to be brought up in. So don’t. ETA: And if I missed anyone, you don’t need to flag it, this instruction goes for all posts related to Musk. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/17 "2025-02-19T15:03:30Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Nitpick: The **[cuckoo clock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuckoo_clock)** is not Swiss. It’s a bullshit quote, but a famous one. Said by the bad guy Harry Lyme (Orson Welles) in The Third Man. The context is he’s trying to justify stealing penicillin in newly post-war Vienna to sell on the black market, while wounded soldiers and civilians die in agony in the undersupplied hospitals nearby. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/18 "2025-02-19T15:08:30Z")
**Moderating** I can’t believe I need to say this, enough with cuckoo clocks also. If you want to continue, do so as a linked topic please. > **How to Reply as a linked Topic** > > Click Reply, in the upper left corner of the reply window is the reply type button, _looks like a curving arrow point to the right_. > > Choose **Reply as linked topic** and it starts a new thread. As an example, you can choose GD, IMHO or The Pit for it. > > That is actually the best method. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/19 "2025-02-19T15:13:14Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Wonder how long it will take after Francispope passes away until temper tanTrump claims he has a right to nominate a real pope Or to _be_ Pope. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475/20 "2025-02-19T15:20:19Z")
Wow. I think the OP received _one_ (maybe two) legitimate on-topic reply before immediately being hijacked. Though, to be honest, few people follow papal politics closely enough to be able to offer informed opinions. Which is why I can offer none. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-papable-right-now/1014475.md?page=2)