Does Africa stand a chance to produce the next Pope?

SUCCESSOR

The death of Pope Francis has sent shock waves across the world. But amidst the mourning and flying tributes, speculations are also high on who will succeed the powerful Argentine pontiff, who served as the 266th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

One interesting thing about the discussions that are trending on various media platforms is the fact that some of the names being proposed for the papacy are from Africa.

Mathias Mazinga profiles some of the cardinals, including two Africans, who have been listed among the topmost contenders to succeed Pope Francis:

Cardinal Peter Turkson, 76

He is a Ghanaian prelate who currently serves as the chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences. Formerly the Archbishop of Cape Coast, Turkson also served as the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (2009-2017).

The popular prelate had earlier served as the inaugural Prefect of the Dicastery of the Promotion of Integral Human Development. Turkson is often mentioned as a possible first black pope, although he said in 2010 he did not want the job, insisting any such pope would “have a rough time”.

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, 65

He is the reigning Archbishop of Kinshasa, most acknowledged for his bold leadership and firm stance on issues of peace, justice and democratic governance. He is credited for his evangelistic zeal and deep religious devotion. Ambongo is the only cardinal from Africa on Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals, the advisory committee to the pontiff.

As president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, he signed a letter in January 2024 voicing opposition to the Vatican’s declaration allowing priests to carry out non-liturgical blessings of same-sex unions. In a 2023 interview, Ambongo proclaimed that “Africa is the future of the Church, it’s obvious”.

Other candidates

Cardinal Robert Sarah,79

He is a Guinean prelate who previously served as the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. He is more known for his ultra-conservative views. He is one of the prelates that have been very critical of Pope Francis because of his progressive policies. He is an ardent defender of the traditional Latin Mass and an avid opposer of the adoption of same-sex couples.

Cardinal Louis Antonio Tagle, 67

He is a Filipino prelate currently serving as the Pro-Prefect for the Section of First Evangelisation of the Dicastery for Evangelisation, and as the president of Interdicasterial Commission for Consecrated Religious. Formerly the Archbishop of Manila, Tagle is generally acknowledged as Pope Francis’ blue-eyed prelate. Tagle is a charismatic moderate who has not been afraid to criticise the Church for its shortcomings, including sexual abuse of minors.

Joseph Cardinal Cupich, 76

He is an American prelate currently serving as the Archbishop of Chicago. He was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis in 2016. Before becoming Archbishop of Chicago in 2014, he served as the Bishop of Rapid City and Spokane.

Robert Sarah

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, 76

He is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was a patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta from 2014 to 2023. He led the Archdiocese of St Louis from 2004 to 2008 and the Diocese of La Crosse from 1995 to 2004.

Timothy Michael Dolan, 75

He is an American Catholic prelate, currently serving as Archbishop of New York. A jovial, ruddy-faced extrovert with Irish-American roots, Dolan is a theological conservative, fiercely opposed to abortion. As former Archbishop of Milwaukee, he oversaw the fallout from a major sexual abuse scandal in the diocese. In New York, amid shrinking Church membership, Dolan has reached out to embrace the growing Hispanic population, which is predominantly Catholic. Dolan served as the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2010 to 2013 and was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 2012.

Pierbattista Pizzaballa, 60

He is the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. He represents the Latin Rite within the Catholic Church in the Holy Land. He is the top Catholic in the Middle East with an archdiocese encompassing Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Cyprus. He was made a cardinal in September 2023, shortly before the war broke out between Israel and Hamas.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, 70

He is an Italian prelate currently serving as the Vatican’s Secretary of State, and the highest-ranking cardinal in the electing conclave. He has been the number two at the Vatican during nearly all of Francis’ papacy.

Cardinal Peter Erdo, 72

He is the reigning Archbishop of Budapest, Hungary. Known for his enthusiasm for evangelism, the cardinal, who grew up under Communism, is a conservative on such issues as gay marriage and divorcees who remarry.

Cardinal Gerald Cyprien Lacroix, 67

He is a Canadian prelate, currently serving as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Quebec. He was appointed a cardinal by Pope Francis on January 12, 2014.

Lars Anders Arborelius, 75

He is a Swedish prelate of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, who currently serves as the archbishop of Stockholm. Appointed in 2017 as Sweden’s first cardinal, Arborelius is a convert to Catholicism in the overwhelmingly Protestant Scandinavian country, home to one of the world’s most secularised societies.

Turkson

Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, 69

He is an Italian prelate currently serving as the Archbishop of Bologna. He is also the reigning president of the Episcopal Conference of Italy. He has for more than three decades acted as a discreet diplomat for the Vatican including serving as Pope Francis’ special peace envoy for Ukraine.

Mario Grech, 68

He is a Maltese prelate, who was previously the Bishop of Gozo. Pope Francis raised him to the rank of cardinal on November 28, 2020. Grech is the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, a body that gathers information from local churches on crucial issues for the Church — whether the place of women or remarried divorced people — and passes it along to the Pope.

Jean-Marc Aveline, 66

He is an Algerian-born Catholic prelate currently serving as the Archbishop of Marseille in France. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Marseille in 2013. He is considered to be a close friend of Pope Francis, who also appointed him cardinal in 2022. The smiling, affable Aveline has advocated for dialogue between religions and cultures, and the defence of migrants — both central tenets of Pope Francis’s papacy.

Jean-Claude Hollerich, 67

He is the reigning Archbishop of Luxembourg. A Jesuit like Pope Francis, Hollerich spent over 20 years in Japan, and is a specialist in European-Asian cultural relations as well as German literature.

Firm on dogma, the theologian is still open to the need for the Church to adapt to societal changes, much like the Argentine pope he was close to and for whom he served as an adviser on the Council of Cardinals. Hollerich has advocated for the environment and has pushed for laypeople, especially young people, to have more involvement in the Church.

Robert Francis Prevost, 69

He is an American prelate currently serving as the Prefect of the powerful Dicastery for Bishops, which is charged with advising the Pope on appointments of new bishops. He spent years as a missionary in Peru and is the Archbishop-Bishop emeritus of Chiclayo in that South American country.

Made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023, he is also the president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Prevost is a member and Prior General of the Order of St Augustine.

Charles Maung Bo, 76

He is the Archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar and the president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences. Bo was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2015, his country’s first and only cardinal. Bo has called for dialogue and reconciliation in conflict-ridden Myanmar, and after the military coup of 2021, appealed to opposition protesters to remain non-violent.

He has defended the persecuted mainly Muslim Rohingya, calling them victims of “ethnic cleansing”, and spoken out against human trafficking uprooting the lives of many young Burmese.

Claudio Gugerotti, 69

A diplomat and polyglot from the Italian city of Verona, Gugerotti is an expert on the Slavic world. He served as Nuncio (or ambassador of the Holy See) in several countries including Britain, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Ukraine. Consulted by Pope Francis on the war between Ukraine and Russia, Gugerotti was named Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches in 2022.