As hundreds of thousands of mourners gather in Vatican City to celebrate the life of Pope John Paul II, who died of cardiocirculatory collapse Saturday evening at 84, many Catholics, while celebrating the Pope’s past, are looking to the church’s future.
It has been more than 25 years since Catholic Cardinals from around the globe have gathered to elect a new pope, and there has been some speculation as to who it will be. According to a Sunday Oregonian report, since 1378, popes have been elected from within the College of Cardinals, and historically, they aren’t American. But that doesn’t mean the Cardinals, when convening within the next three weeks, won’t lean toward another nontraditional (read: non-Italian) pope. John Paul II was from Poland, breaking a more than 450-year Italian hold on
the position.
We applaud efforts by the 117 eligible voting members of the College of Cardinals to look past nationality and race when choosing the next pope. Although a majority of those mentioned as possible “frontrunners” for the position are Italian, several, such as Francis Arinze, 72, from Nigeria, and Norberto Rivera Carrera, 62, from Mexico, could be the right religious leaders to help the Church grow and connect with its non-European members. In Africa alone, the number of Roman Catholics has almost doubled to 100 million in the past 20 years, according to the Sunday Oregonian.
Age, nationality, life experience and personality are among the factors expected to influence the decision. Whomever the Cardinals decide to elect, we hope the voting process is free of deals, alliances and vendettas and that the new pope will create a legacy as powerful, albeit at times controversial, as that of Pope John Paul II.
Out Loud:
“The Catholic Church has lost its shepherd; the world has lost a champion of human freedom, and a good and faithful servant of God has been called home.”
— President George W. Bush
“We have lost our greatest advocate for a more humane and just world. Pope John Paul II was more than the leader of the Roman Catholic Church; he represented the best of our humanity and had an abiding belief in our ability to make the world a better place for all people.”
— Gov. Ted Kulongoski
“I have come from a faraway country — far away, but always so close in the communion of faith. I do not know whether I can express myself in your — in our — Italian language. If I make mistakes, you will correct me.”
— Pope John Paul II, in his first public appearance as pope on Oct. 16, 1978
— from Oregonian news reports

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