2005 papal conclave
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Because of the frail health of Pope John Paul II, it is possible that there will be a papal election in 2005.
Papal election process
- Main article: Papal election.
A papal election is the process by which the College of Cardinals selects a new Pope. As of April 1 2005, there are 117 Cardinals who are under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave. It was Pope Paul VI who decreed that the octogenarian Cardinals could no longer vote in papal elections. Paul also declared that the number of cardinal electors should not exceed 120.
Early speculations
There has been speculation since 2001 about who the next pope will be (see external links), and names of possible candidates have been floated in the press. These are unofficially known as the papabile, an Italian word which roughly translates as pope-able.
Early speculation, before John Paul II's latest bout of illness, drew attention to the fact that of the five nations with the largest Catholic populations, only one is European, that being Italy. Forty-six percent of the world's Catholics are in Latin America; the Philippines have more Catholics than Italy; some 120 million Catholics are in Africa. Yet 35 percent of the voting cardinals either officially represent an Italian diocese or work for the Vatican administration, the Curia. [1].
A number of men have been mentioned as possible successors, including Cardinals Joseph Ratzinger, Jorge Bergoglio, Francis Arinze, Christoph Schönborn, and Angelo Sodano. Although John Paul II's successor has not yet been named, people have long said that "He who enters the conclave as pope, leaves it as a cardinal."
Nevertheless, the voting cardinals not raised to the College by John Paul II himself can be counted on one hand (5 out of 117), and the conservative present college are unlikely to elect an African pope— the last pope from Africa being Pope Gelasius I (died in 496)— or one from the Philippines. A Latin American pope is a slim possibility, for the first time in history.
After a long pontificate, the conclave traditionally selects an elderly cardinal, which inevitably leads to a brief, transitional pontificate: "After a fat pope a lean pope" the Italian saying runs. In that scenario, the next Pope could be Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger who is ?? years old. He is a German social conservative who has been John Paul's enforcer on matters of doctrine. However, if Ratzinger were to be elected Pope, the fact that he appears to have been a member of the Wehrmacht during the last few months of World War II could lead to controversy with journalists trying to investigate the details of his war service.
See also
External links
- Conclave procedures, outlined by Time.com
- BBC News: candidates as of February 2001
- Slate.com: candidates as of October 2003
- National Catholic Reporter Vatican correspondent John Allen, Jr.: four candidates as of February 2005