The closest to François’s positions, the most consensual, the most learned … While cardinals around the world meet from Wednesday, May 7 to elect the successor to pope Francis, observers and bookmakers have already drawn up the “papabili”, these favorites to occupy the post. A total of 133 cardinals voters will participate in the conclave, which will take place in the camera of the Sistine Chapel, in the Vatican, to designate the 267th Sovereign Pontiff.
The election of a new Pope is a complex and particularly unpredictable process, and even if a dozen names emerge on the eve of the opening of the conclave, it is quite possible that François’s successor is not cited in our article.
Pietro Parolin (Italian, 70 years old): number 2 of the Vatican
Secretary of State of the Vatican during almost all of the Pontificate of François, Pietro Parolin is a seasoned diplomat, former right-handed arm of the Pope and a leading man on the international scene. He has traveled a lot and is known to many political leaders as well as the whole of the Roman Curia (all the organisms of the Holy See), of which he knows all the cogs.
Member of the Cardinaux Council, a perfect connoisseur of the files, he played a key role in the signing in 2018 of a historic agreement between the Holy See and China on the appointments of bishops, wrote the newspaper last year The cross. IHe is one of the two big favorites, with Luis Antonio Tagle (read below), according toThe British bookmaker William Hill.DD .. (new window)
Pierbattista Pizzaballa (Italian, 60 years old): a fine connoisseur of the Middle East
Pierbattista Pizzaballa is a Franciscan and theologian speaking Hebrew and English arrived in Jerusalem in 1990, details the Vatican on his site. In September 2023, this fine connoisseur of the Middle East became the first patriarch of Jerusalem-the highest Catholic authority in East-in practice to be created Cardinal. A month later, the war between Hamas and Israel broke out, with its repercussions in the region. His multiple calls for peace placed him in the spotlight.
Matteo Maria Zuppi (Italy, 69 years): A herchevÊ I programist
Matteo Maria Zuppi is an experienced diplomat. He has been carrying out political mediation missions abroad for over 30 years. Member of the Roman community of Sant’Egidio, the official channel of the Diplomacy of the Holy See, he was a mediator in Mozambique and special emissary of Pope Francis for Peace in Ukraine.
Archbishop of Bologna, he has been president of the Italian episcopal conference (CEI) since 2022. He calls to help migrants and homeless people, reports the Vatican. He also defends the integration of homosexual faithful within the Church.
Claudio GUGEROTTI (Italian, 69 years old): the man who advised François on the war in Ukraine
End diplomat, polyglot, Claudio GUGEROTTI is from Verona (northern Italy) and expert in the Slavic world. His career led him to serve as a nuncio (Ambassador of the Holy See) in several countries of the East (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Ukraine), as well as in the United Kingdom.
Consulted by the Pope on the war between Ukraine and Russia, he was since 2023 prefect of the Dicaster for the Eastern Churches, according to his portrait drawn up by the Vatican.
Jean-Marc Aveline (French, 66 years old): the Archbishop of Marseille, ambassador of the interreligious dialogue
Born in Algeria, descendant of a line of Andalusian black feet, Jean-Marc Aveline spent almost all his life in Marseille, of which he has become an emblematic figure. Appointed Archbishop of the Marseille city in 2019 and created Cardinal in 2022, this defender of the intercultural brotherhood with a smiling and affable personality very early sought to promote a peaceful interreligious dialogue and to work for the defense of migrants, two pillars of the Pontificate of François.
Elected early April President of the Conference of Bishops of France, he was also the main craftsman of the Pope’s visit to Marseille in 2023.
-Anders Arborelius (Swedish, 75): a defender of the reception of migrants
This Swedish Lutheran has converted to Catholicism in a country, the majority of the population of which is Protestant, but which is also among the most secularized on the planet.
The first Catholic bishop of Swedish nationality, Anders Arborelius was created Cardinal in 2017. In the unison of François, he defends in particular the reception of migrants in Europe.
Mario Grech (Maltais, 68 years old): a balancingist looking for compromise
The bishop of Gozo, the second island of the small Mediterranean archipelago of Malta, played a crucial role during the synod on the future of the Church wanted by François. Mario Grech was the secretary general of this world assembly who deliberated crucial questions such as the place of women and remarried divorced. In this role, he engaged in a delicate exercise of balancingist, relates The cross in a portrait dedicated to him.
Peter Erdö (Hungarian, 72 years old): a Theologian with conservative positions
This intellectual, who speaks seven languages, is appreciated for his theological expertise and his openness to other religions. A fervent defender of dialogue with Orthodox Christians, Peter Erdö also pays particular attention to the Jewish community. It displays very conservative views, both concerning remarried divorced and homosexual couples, describes The Guardian.
His silence in the face of the anti-democratic drifts of the government of Viktor Orban was noticed, while the Hungarian Church, on the contrary, praised its initiatives to renovate places of worship and re-Christianize schools in the name of the defense of Christianity in Europe.
Luis Antonio Tagle (Philippin, 67 years old): the fight against pedocrime pegged to the body
The former Archbishop of Manila is a moderate figure who did not hesitate to criticize the Catholic Church for its shortcomings, especially in pedocrime affairs.
Like Pope Francis, Luis Antonio Tagle appears at the forefront in the defense of the poor, migrants and marginalized people, to the point of having been nicknamed the press “François Asian”. It was created Cardinal by Benedict XVI in 2012 and he had already been considered a possible candidate during the conclave having led to the election of François, in 2013.
Peter Turkson (Ghanaian, 76): one of the most influential African cardinals
Peter Turkson has often been presented among the favorites to become the first black pope. It is presented by the newspaper The point as “l’outsider”, has “the respected voice “. Born into a modest family of ten children, Peter Turkson speaks six languages and went several times to the Davos World Economic Forum to alert business leaders of the drifts of the liberal economy. He is considered one of the most influential African cardinals.
Robert Sarah (Guinean, 79 years old): the favorite of traditionalists
Figurehead of Catholics traditionalists critical of François, this Guinean prelate Francophone is distinguished by its very conservative positions on immigration and homosexuality. He thus described as“heresy” The text of the Holy See opening the way, in 2023, to a blessing of homosexual couples, an evolution widely rejected by the African bishops.
In October 2023, he was one of the five conservative cardinals who publicly asked Pope Francis to reaffirm Catholic doctrine on gay couples and the ordination of women. His radical positions earned him great popularity among traditionalist Catholics, especially in French -speaking countries.
