Time Magazine leads the google rankings for 'next Pope'
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the chief architect of Pope John Paul II's traditionalist moral policy, has long been a bugaboo for liberal Catholics. But they had stopped worrying that the German might one day ascend to St. Peter's throne. His hard-line views and blunt approach had earned him the epithet of panzerkardinal and too many enemies. Well, their worrying may now resume. Sources in Rome tell TIME that Ratzinger has re-emerged as the top papal candidate within the Vatican hierarchy, joining other front runners such as Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan and Claudio Hummes of Sao Paolo.
My mother spits his name with venom.
Paddy Power currently has Tettamanzi at 5/2, Hummes at 3/1, and Ratzinger a relative outsider at 10/1.
Four years ago, the BBC wrote
Claudio Hummes, 66, is Archbishop of Sao Paulo in Brazil. He is seen as a moderate, and has spoken out on human rights issues.
In theory any adult male Catholic could become Pope, but convention dictates that it's usually someone who is a Cardinal. Certainly a bishop.
Never going to be a woman, though. Because the Catholic Church believes women to be inferior to men. If everything else the Catholic Church did was perfect - which it isn't - it would still be fundamentally wrong because of its attitude to women.
