Conclave: who are the likely contenders to succeed Pope Francis?
- Pope Francis died on April 21, 2025, at age 88 from a stroke and cardiac arrest in Vatican City, triggering a conclave beginning May 7 to elect his successor.
- Francis's death followed a 12-year papacy noted for humility, social justice advocacy, and Church reform, while the conclave process remains secretive with no official candidate list.
- The 133 cardinal electors from 71 countries will vote in the Sistine Chapel, with frontrunners including Pietro Parolin, Peter Erdo, Jean-Marc Aveline, and Pierbattista Pizzaballa representing diverse theological and regional backgrounds.
- Parolin, 70, Italy's Vatican Secretary of State, is seen as the leading candidate, while others like Tagle and Zuppi offer moderate, reform-minded options; some cardinals remain too conservative or liberal to gain broad support.
- The conclave's outcome will reflect tensions between Francis's progressive legacy and conservative factions, indicating possible shifts in Church direction amid global Catholic demographic changes.
105 Articles
105 Articles
Faith Matters: Where can we find universal truths?: There may be some futility in the search, but not in the aspiration to ‘be worthy’
The death of Papà Francesco — Pope Francis — has caught my attention for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that he embodied and lived out the claim of a Roman Catholic universal truth that is intended to be both accessible to and attainable for every human being. As a teacher of religious studies, philosophy and ethics, and as a non-ordained dean of spiritual life, I am fascinated with the prospect that there may be some way in wh…
The 64-year-old Asturian Cardinal Angel Fernández Artime can be elected as the new Pope of the Catholic Church after the death of Francis. The members of the College of Cardinals will vote in the Conclave and the Properfect of the Dicastery for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life can become the 267th Pontiff and the sovereign of the State of Vatican City. Cardinal Artime has been a prominent prelate who has left a …
The conclave has decided who will be the next leader of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church.
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