I tot he has since retired as a cardinal.

Btw, what made pope benedict resign his post?

Nobody is talking about Cardinals Okojie and Onaiyekan.

I hear dt whenever a pope dies

.

lol nw dis is funny

Ejiné: He's already crossed 80, and by Vatican customs, that makes him ineligible.

At what age did cardinal Ratzinger(Pope benedict) become Pope?

Dr. Wise:
Nobody is talking about Cardinals Okojie and Onaiyekan.

They're not even close. cardinal Arinze has being in the vatican for decades and ranks high and above Okogie and Onaiyekan that just became a cardinal last year.

the_ripper:

I know u prefer Shiekh Gumi, the islamic terrorist, useless Yoruba tout.

My friend stop dreaming. Ibos cannot be trusted with such a Highly Revered Position.
Have you ever wondered why chinyere sorry chinua asiwere sorry achebe have not been able to win the Highly revered Oslo Nobel?
Ibos are Osu lol

the greatest illusion

85 is resigning due to old age and you think his successor will be 81. Is either he is a PDP youth leader or Benjamin Burton. Please stop this fantasies. What the church needs is a young 55-70 year old to handle the huge task if faces.

I thought the Da Vinci code said something like this. Where is Dan Brown? There's a conspiracy somewhere

seanet01: My friend stop dreaming. Ibos cannot be trusted with such a Highly Revered Position.
Have you ever wondered why chinyere sorry chinua asiwere sorry achebe have not been able to win the Highly revered Oslo Nobel?
Ibos are Osu lol

The same fetid drivels from ur demented Islamic-Yoruba head. Let the Catholics worry about dat, aint u a Philistine? Why d orga-s-mic feeling, u should b worried about who heads Al- Queda.

Ejiné: He's already crossed 80, and by Vatican customs, that makes him ineligible.

This.
Also if this pope quit because he was too old, why hire someone who would start at an even older age?
Makes no sense.

kcjazz: 85 is resigning due to old age and you think his successor will be 81. Is either he is a PDP youth leader or Benjamin Burton. Please stop this fantasies. What the church needs is a young 55-70 year old to handle the huge task if faces.

[img]http://cdn.download.repubblica.it/images/2013/02/11/165620428-622d3111-56b0-4ddc-9e49-e20df27b8ef0.jpg[/img]

Like this guy

Afam4eva:
At what age did cardinal Ratzinger(Pope benedict) become Pope?

78 I believe

Kx: If a Nigerian would be a Pope, it would naturally be an Igbo man.

GBAM

speculation and speculation

ugotheman: Bet u guys know better.cardinal Arinze won't be pope for obvious racial considerations.Hope the day comes when people are not judged for some mediocre reasons.

He might even be holding a mass one day and one stupid Italian as usual, will haul banana pills at him

No be ♍e talk am o

Guys, there is this apt saying "He who is Pope before the Conclave is always a Cardinal after the Conclave"

Nigeria’s Cardinal Francis Arinze: the next Pope?

21 Comments Fraser Nelson11 February 2013 12:03




The first papal resignation since 1415 will throw the world’s attention on Nigeria’s Cardinal Francis Arinze, who is the bookies’ favourite to succeed Benedict XVI. Not so long ago, the candidates would all be Italians. Now, the odds on a pope from the third world are quite high. Europe now stands out as a secularist anomaly in a world where religion is strong and growing stronger, as we argue in this week’s Spectator.

There is an saying in the Vatican: young cardinals vote for old popes. This bodes will for the 80-year-old Cardinal Arinze, an Igbo Nigerian who spent 25 years in the Vatican. He was, once, the world’s youngest bishop. He is quite conservative, as the last two Popes were, and was seen as a runner last time. The liberal Cardinals will like the idea of a Pope from the developing world. The new rules mean a new Pope needs the votes of two-thirds of the Cardinals, so one faction cannot impose its will over another. Since no one expected Benedict’s resignation, it could well be that the Cardinals are not ready to come up with a long-term solution. Older popes are, historically, a form of compromise. Arinze himself can’t vote, having turned 80. There are only ten African electors left.

Coral and William Hill both have Arinze as favourite. A Hill spokesman said:-


“When we opened betting last time around, in 2005, Francis Arinze was our favourite. His odds did drift towards the date of the announcement when Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) became the favourite, but he remained in the top three. Also, when Ratzinger became pope, Arinze took over from him as cardinal bishop of Velletri-Segni (a Catholic diocese close to Rome) —— it could be that he’ll follow in his footsteps again.”

The bookies may well have it wrong: odds simply reflect the weight of money, and the market may not be very liquid. Most bets were placed before anyone thought a race was really likely. We are in uncharted territory – will the pope’s presence influence his successor? What will his role be? Indeed, what do we call him: Pontiff Emeritus? Ex-Benedict? And while Arinze was a runner in 2005 he retired a few years ago, hardly demonstrating an appetite for the far-greater demands of the papacy.

If a younger pope is called for there is another African option in the form of the young (by papal standards) Peter Turkson, a Ghanian. There are hints that he is Benedict’s favourite candidate: not so long ago the pope said that having a African pontiff (for the first time in 1500 years) would “send a splendid signal to the world” about the universality of the church.

But is this what Benedict wants? He has appointed surprisingly few Africans to the electoral college, as John L Allen pointed out last year. Allen had this to say:


In general, today’s nominations reinforce the dominance of the West in the College of Cardinals. Only three of the 18 new electors come from the developing world — one Brazilian, one Indian, and one from China (Hong Kong). In that sense, the College of Cardinals will continue to be unrepresentative of Catholic demography, given that two-thirds of the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world today live in the global south, a share projected to rise to three-quarters by mid-century.

Coral’s odds will probably change quickly, as money is placed. But right now, they are as follows:

Cardinal Francis Arinze 7/4 of Nigeria. Age 80.

Cardinal Peter Turkson 2/1 of Ghana, Age 64. Appointed by Benedict four years ago to become president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet 5/1 of Canada, Age 68

Archbishop Angelo Scola 8/1, an Italian philosopher. Aged 71.

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga 10/1. A Honduran who was President of the Latin American Episcopal Conference. Age 70

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone 12/1, an Italian prelate. Aged 78

PS I should add that betting is a mug’s game. It all depends on the preferences of a tiny group of pension-age cardinals, who tend not to tell anyone what they’re thinking. But if anyone would know what they’re thinking, it’s Benedict. He may well have decided to stand down now (rather than die in office, as popes have done for the last few centuries) because he thinks the stars are aligning for his favoured candidate.

FreeGlobe:
Yes but he is just 64 and that will disqualify him. Nobody would want a lifetime Pope especially when you are black. So Cardinal Arinze is ahead if a black Pope will happen.

Leave them to continue in their illusion. I have a cousin who works in the Vatican. He called me this morning to tell me that Arinze is likely the next Pope going by the news making round and within Vatican city.

Arinze become the next pope? That'll never happen.

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Kx: If a Nigerian would be a Pope, it would naturally be an Igbo man.

Mad man alert!!!!! I repeat mad man alert!!!!! Omega,do you copy?? I repeat there is a mad man on the loose approaching your 2'0clock... Shoot on sight,i repeat shoot on sight...

Kslib:
Mad man alert!!!!! I repeat mad man alert!!!!! Omega,do you copy?? I repeat there is a mad man on the loose approaching your 2'0clock... Shoot on sight,i repeat shoot on sight...

U nor try at all.

FreeGlobe:
Yes but he is just 64 and that will disqualify him. Nobody would want a lifetime Pope especially when you are black. So Cardinal Arinze is ahead if a black Pope will happen.

WTF is a black pope? Speak correctly abeg

I think the cup is passing over to an Asian this time around!

Very true!

FreeGlobe:
Yes but he is just 64 and that will disqualify him. Nobody would want a lifetime Pope especially when you are black. So Cardinal Arinze is ahead if a black Pope will happen.