I am full believer that the Holy Spirit guides the Church and the selection of Pontiff. This is an exciting time to be a Catholic. It is funny when you hear Father Jonathan Morris being interviewed by Megyn Kelly on FoxNews and he cannot contain his exuberance.
So while I would agree prayer, prayer, prayer (well probably prayer with fasting) is the most positive and constructive action we should undertake to support the selection of the next pope, it is sure fun, albeit in a Catholic-geeky way, to know a little more about the men who might be selected, and that is the subject of this post.
Looking back on last election, the only two Cardinals I was pulling for were Ratzinger and Arinze.
As I look through this list and then the table I put together before finding this list, the only Cardinal I have listened and seen enough is Francis Cardinal Arinze, but he is given higher odds of selection due to being 80 years old, older than Ratzinger when he was selected. Christoph Cardinal Schonborn would arguably be the closest person they could elect that would be a younger Benedict XVI.
For some reason we get very little exposure via EWTN to the Latin American candidates. George Cardinal Pell from Australia was given some coverage last week on EWTN. There were some news articles that said he was not as strong on the sex abuse handling, which is clear contrast to other cardinals, of which Sean Cardinal O'Malley and Christoph Cardinal Schonborn are given high marks from within and outside our Church.
We don't have long to wait now. Would you like to leave in the comment who you are hoping is selected? Or you can just keep praying and then find out more about who is selected afterward.
This is the table I put together during my lunch at work today - it is terribly incomplete:
|
Cardinal
|
Country
|
Age
|
PP Odds
|
Orthodox
|
Charismatic?
|
Managerial?
|
Multiple Languages?
|
|
Sean
O'Malley
|
US
|
68
|
12/1
|
?
|
Neutral
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Odilo
Pedro Scherer
|
Brazil
|
63
|
7/2
|
Yes
|
?
|
?
|
Yes!
|
|
Angelo
Scola
|
Italy
|
71
|
5/2
|
Yes
|
?
|
?
|
Yes
|
|
Peter
Turkson
|
Ghana
|
64
|
13/2
|
?
|
Yes
|
?
|
Yes!
|
|
Tarcisio
Bertone
|
Italy
|
77
|
12/1
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
|
Marc
Ouellet
|
Canada
|
68
|
8/1
|
Yes
|
?
|
?
|
Yes!
|
|
Leonardo
Sandri
|
Argentina
|
69
|
20/1
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
|
Christoph
Schönborn
|
Austria
|
67
|
14/1
|
Yes
|
?
|
Yes
|
Yes!
|
|
Gianfranco
Ravasi
|
Italy
|
69
|
20/1
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
?
|
?
|
|
Angelo
Bagnasco
|
Italy
|
69
|
25/1
|
Yes
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
|
Jorge
Bergoglio
|
Argentina
|
75
|
33/1
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
|
Angelo
Sodano
|
Italy
|
85
|
200/1
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
|
Francis
Arinze
|
Nigeria
|
80
|
50/1
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
?
|
Yes
|
|
Raymond
Burke
|
US
|
64
|
20/1
|
Yes
|
Neutral
|
?
|
Yes
|
|
Timothy
Dolan
|
US
|
63
|
20/1
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Not
Really
|
Wondering what "PP Odds" is? These are the latest odds from PaddyPower.com. Yes, people are voting on this. You'll be relieved to know that while Nobel Prize Nominee Bono (U2 Lead Vocalist and famous philanthropist) did make the list, Nobel Prize Winner Barak Obama did not. Bono really doesn't qualify either since the minimal qualifications are male and celibate, and like Barak, he is married with children. Of course maybe the drone strikes and their well publicized killing of non-combatants (i.e. children, elderly) took him out of betting consideration? Have to think there was profit motive to including Bono on the list, like the fun choice for someone with money to burn, who would enjoy decreasing the odds for Bono just to spite the Catholics? Who knows, but probably PaddyPower doesn't mind taking the bets. Even 1000/1 is overly generous odds for Bono though, don't you think. Sean Cardinal O'Malley is an actual Cardinal with good record on working for the poor.
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
20 Men who could be Pope by George Weigel, via NBC News: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/12/17270315-from-rome-to-africa-meet-the-20-men-who-could-be-pope?lite
ReplyDeleteHi Colleen....well, it's always delightful when the Lord surprises us (and PaddyPower!) I think Pope Francis is a wonderful, humble man, and I am looking forward to learning more about him...maybe here on your blog (you are so good at that :) Are you excited? What do you think? I had an appointment today right before 1pm. I really didn't expect white smoke today. When I got back into my car at 3pm and turned on Catholic radio, I was stunned to hear them talking about Pope Francis, and of course, I didn't know who he was. I had been following the top half dozen or so. With all the prayers that went up through adopt a cardinal, etc., I have such great hope that the Holy Spirit prepared just the man we need to shepherd His Church. God bless you on this happy day! xoxoxo
ReplyDeletePatricia, Is this the fastest way of replying to you? I was very excited today. My Mother-in-law and work friend both contacted me as I stood in the security line at Ohare airport. I was anxious to get through the line to fire up ewtn.mobi. I am happy he is from South America, happy he is so humble, happy he chose the name Francis. I was so happy I tipped someone $14 on a $6 bill. He was Hispanic and was the closest person to a friend to me as we watched the announcements on my tiny iPhone screen. Praise God! I think this Church and this world has been blessed again by the Holy Spirit's guidance in the selection of Pope, again!
DeleteYikes, just found out it is an excommunicable offense to bet on the papal selection or so it said on Catholic Online. Not sure if it was tongue-in-cheek or not. So hope I didn't motivate anyone to do this by posting the odds on the papal selection. It was just novelty to me. It is interesting that the 33/1 candidate won, isn't it?
ReplyDelete