Ever since John Paul II died, Argentine Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio has been mooted as a possible successor.
(http://www.channelstv.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Pope-Francis-I-.jpg) (http://www.channelstv.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Pope-Francis-I-.jpg)He certainly has the credentials.
The 76-year-old trained chemist and son of a railway worker has been a cardinal since 2001 and is widely seen as being open and compassionate.
He stands out for his humility, living in a modest apartment, rather than his luxury official residence.
"In favour of Bergoglio is his pastoral attitude, as they say in the Church – his relationship with the people," says Leandro Pastor, a philosophy professor at the University of Buenos Aires, who has known Cardinal Bergoglio for 25 years.
"He's a very simple man. He's very austere. And also, I think he's an intelligent man and someone who is very good at communicating."
He impressed fellow prelates in 2001 when he skilfully helped to manage a synod of bishops in Rome.Buenos Aires' cardinal is also a strong advocate for the poor. And, as a Latin American, he comes from a region which is home to around half the world's billion or so Catholics.
According to Monsignor Osvaldo Musto, who was at seminary with him, the archbishop would also be a good choice in terms of continuity.
"He's as uncompromising as Pope John Paul II, in terms of the principles of the Church – everything it has defended regarding euthanasia, the death penalty, abortion, the right to life, human rights, celibacy of priests. All of this will continue if Bergoglio is made Pope."
Bergoglio became a priest at 32, nearly a decade after losing a lung due to respiratory illness and quitting his chemistry studies. Despite his late start, he was leading the local Jesuit community within four years, holding the post from 1973 to 1979.
Bergoglio's vocational success coincided with the bloody 1976-1983 military dictatorship, during which up to 30,000 suspected leftists were kidnapped and killed — which prompted sharp questions about his role.
The most well-known episode relates to the abduction of two Jesuits whom the military government secretly jailed for their work in poor neighborhoods.
According to "The Silence," a book written by journalist Horacio Verbitsky, Bergoglio withdrew his order's protection of the two men after they refused to quit visiting the slums, which ultimately paved the way for their capture.
Verbitsky's book is based on statements by Orlando Yorio, one of the kidnapped Jesuits, before he died of natural causes in 2000. Both of the abducted clergymen survived five months of imprisonment.
"History condemns him. It shows him to be opposed to all innovation in the Church and above all, during the dictatorship, it shows he was very cozy with the military," Fortunato Mallimacci, the former dean of social sciences at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, once said.
Those who defend Bergoglio say there is no proof behind these claims and, on the contrary, they say the priest helped many dissidents escape during the military junta's rule.
But in the Vatican, far removed from the dictatorship's grim legacy, this quiet priest is expected to lead the Church with an iron grip and a strong social conscience.
In 2010, he challenged the Argentine government when it backed a gay marriage bill.
"Let's not be naive. This isn't a simple political fight, it's an attempt to destroy God's plan," he wrote in a letter days before the bill was approved by Congress.
Compromise choice
Another factor in his favour is that he speaks Italian – the official language of the Church – and that he traces his ancestry back to Italy.
In the event that cardinals struggle to decide whether to maintain a non-Italian papacy or to return to its traditional roots, Jorge Bergoglio could emerge as a choice of compromise.
But when the cardinals do get down to voting, they will also have to consider the Argentine's health.
For the past 20 years, he has lived with only one functioning lung, although he is said to be in good shape.
And then there is the fact that he is a Jesuit.
This order of the Church has never produced a Pope before.
Its members are supposed to avoid ecclesiastical honours and serve the Pope himself.
Via: ChannelsTV