Cardinal Francis Arinze.
Why? My opinion is that the next Pope will be healthy, but older, so as to ensure a short papacy. John Paul II's papacy is one of the longest ever. The Vatican wants a caretaker. Arinze is 72 years old.
Arinze makes sense since it will a groundbreaking appointment of a man from a troubled part of the world.
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/nigeria/arinze.html
Why? My opinion is that the next Pope will be healthy, but older, so as to ensure a short papacy. John Paul II's papacy is one of the longest ever. The Vatican wants a caretaker. Arinze is 72 years old.
Arinze makes sense since it will a groundbreaking appointment of a man from a troubled part of the world. It will be seen as the Church reaching out to the Third World and the Middle East.
Further, Arinze is the President Cardinal of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue at the Vatican. Given Pope John Paul's pursuit of reconciliation with the Jews and with Muslims, Arinze possesses significant experience in that regard.
The problem is that Arinze is even more conservative on social and sexual matters than our current Pope. But that is true of nearly everyone.
For more inforation:
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/nigeria/arinze.html