Papal Punditry

Pope John Paul II was a good man, though flawed (sorry, infallibility-believing Catholics). He way too conservative on many issues, such as condoms to prevent AIDS in Africa, but he was also progressive on many other things, such as relations with Jews.

One interesting thing to see in today's newspaper was seeing news headlines from around the world and seeing how John Paul was called in different places. This isn't because of the pope himself, but because of the fact that the church is international, but it's still worth mentioning. Ioannes Paulus (Latin), Johannes Paul (German), Jean-Paul (French) and the list goes on. In Hebrew, by the way he was called Yochanan Paulus.

Now for the punditry section. Everyone is trying to guess who the next pope is going to be. I have no idea who'll be elected, but I'll just guess. I'll list my top five guesses (plus 3 more) - Number one will grant me 50 points if elected. Number five - 10 points. Then I'll make wild guesses about the name he'll pick - again top five+3. In two weeks I'll see if the Holy Spirit guided me in my baseless guesses - I may get anywhere between all 100 points or nil.

And the nominees are:

1. German Cardinal Ratzinger (%50)
2. Nigerian Cardinal Arinze (40)
3. Italian Cardinal Dionigi Tattamanzi (30)
4. Brazillian Cardinal Hummes (20)
5. Belgian Cardinal Danneels (10)
Three runners-up that will give me one point if elected (at least to save face): Frenchman Lustiger, Hundurian Maradiaga or Italian Battista Re.

Names (if I'm wrong about the numbering, only the name itself counts):

1. Gregory XVII (%50)
2. Innocent XIV (40)
3. Leo XIV (30)
4. John Paul III (20)
5. Gelasius III (10) - in case an African is elected, he may name himself after the last African pope.
Runners-up (one point each): Clement XV, Benedict XVI or Adrian VII.