So, who will the next pope be--a black, a Hispanic, an American, or a Jew?
No, it's not a joke. All four are real possibilities. says Steven Waldman of slate.
Jean-Marie Lustiger
Country: France (Archbishop of Paris)
Age: 79
Assets: Jewish? Shore up Old Europe Christendom.
Liabilities: Jewish! Too old.
Lustiger's mother, a Jew, was killed at Auschwitz. If the cardinals wanted to generate excitement in Europe, choosing Lustiger sure would be a dramatic way to do it.
Do Jews consider him Jewish? Technically, yes. As Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author of Jewish Literacy, said, "According to Jewish law, a person born to a Jewish mother is Jewish, and being Jewish is not something a person can renounce. However ... the Jewish community does not normally relate to such a person as a Jew."
Lustiger is, Telushkin says, popular with Parisian Jews, but other pundits feel that many Jews would be outraged if he were chosen. "Electing him would be a disaster for Catholic-Jewish relations," says Reese. "Some Jews would see this as the church putting him up as an example of what Jews should do."
What probably really rules him out now is his age. Since the mandatory retirement age for cardinals is 75, it might be a bit awkward moral-authority-wise for the pope to bust the cap. So, we probably will never get to find out whether Jewish mothers around the world would have told their children that some day they could grow up to be a doctor, a lawyer, or a pope.
Key cardinals according to BBC are
* Giovanni Battista Re, a 67-year-old Italian, is prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, which enables him to advise the pope on episcopal appointments around the world.
After a successful career as a Vatican diplomat, with posts in Panama and Iran, he became deputy to the Secretary of State, giving him a key role as the pope's chief of staff.
Described as a workaholic, he is regarded as papabile - a possible pope.
* Francois Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan was born in Hue, Vietnam, and was imprisoned by the Communist regime for 13 years, nine of them in solitary confinement. He is now president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
Archbishop Claudio Hummes of Sao Paulo
Archbishop Claudio Hummes of Sao Paulo
* Claudio Hummes, 66, is Archbishop of Sao Paulo in Brazil. He is seen as a moderate, and has spoken out on human rights issues.
* The Polish-born Zenon Grocholewski has a top Vatican job as prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education.
* New cardinals from the United States include the Archbishop of New York, Edward Egan, and the Archbishop of Washington DC, Theodore McCarrick.
Cormac Murphy-O'Connor
Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster
* There is also a red hat for Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, and spiritual leader of the four million Catholics in England and Wales.
* Also included is Karl Lehmann, the liberal-minded head of the German Bishops' Conference. He has been named as a cardinal despite concern at the Vatican over the involvement of the church in Germany in abortion counselling.
He caused consternation last year by suggesting that the pope would be prepared to resign if he became too ill to carry out his duties.
Electors by region (BBC)
Latin America: 20%
W. Europe: 19.3%
Italy: 17.8%
E. Europe: 11.1%
N. America: 9.6%
Africa: 9.6%
Asia: 9.6%
Oceania: 3%
In iran, meanwhile President Khatami condoles with Vatican over Pope's demise and probably will join his burial ceremony as an islamic country leader in vatican , Baztab ( which usually gets the most traffic among iranian cyber space) predicts that the next pope will be a french. the site elaborates that Vatican want to change the secular france to a religious state. so it can affect europe more. baztab reports india, africa or the black world have less importance in comparison with keeping and improving traditional position of catholicism in europe.
ABCnews has more.