world by announcing that he would be the first
pontiff to resign in 700 years. The 85-year-old pope
said he is stepping down at the end of February,
citing his deteriorating level of energy.
The pope's historic resignation raises the question of
who his successor might be. And many Vatican
watchers wonder whether the cardinals might select
an African pope. They cite the fact that Catholicism,
while waning as a religious force in Europe and North
America, has been growing strongly in Africa and
Asia.
That has immediately caused speculation on whether
the Catholic Church might select from the ranks of
senior, eligible African cardinals. One name
mentioned is that of Cardinal Peter Turkson, the
current president of the Pontifical Council for Justice
and Peace, who was born in Ghana and is 64 years
old.
Another highly watched potential contender is
Cardinal Francis Arinze, who is Nigerian. Arinze is
Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine
Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments within
the Catholic Church. He is a longtime cardinal who, at
age 80, may seem too old for the position in the eyes
of the College of Cardinals.
"The Catholic Church in Africa has grown enormously
in the last century, by some 6,700 percent," said
Philip Jenkins, a professor of history at Baylor
University and a scholar on the Vatican.
"The Catholic Church is booming in Africa and if there
were any rationality, then the prospect of an African
pope would be very high," Jenkins said. "The College
of Cardinals is overbalanced toward Europe and,
more specifically, Italy. Down the road, it's close to
inevitable that there would be an African pope. If not
this time, it will occur maybe next time."
Pope Benedict, who is German, has been a strongly
conservative pontiff who had to deal with the
controversies over clerical sex abuse scandals. He
was elected by the cardinals of the church in 2005
following the death of Pope John Paul II.
A Vatican spokesman said that the pope will continue
to perform his duties until Feb. 28 and that a
successor would be selected by Easter, which is on
March 31.
If an African pope is selected, it wouldn't be the first
time. According to "The Book of Pontiffs," there were
three popes from Africa. Pope St. Victor I was the
first. He reigned from 186-197 A.D. as the 15th pope.
Pope St. Militiades was the second pontiff from
Africa. He reigned from 311-314 A.D. as the 32nd or
37th pope (there are conflicting accounts as to his
place in the Papal line). The third African pope was
Pope St. Gelasiu, who served from 492 A.D. until his
death in 496 A.D.
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