Cardinal Schönborn speculates about next Pope

Christoph Schönborn celebrates the appointment of 16 new cardinals in St Peter's Basilica. He recalls the time when he himself became a cardinal.

Christoph Cardinal Schönborn

On Saturday, Pope Francis will appoint sixteen new cardinals in Rome. I will attend the ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica. I became a cardinal myself 24 years ago. At that time I was the second youngest. Today I am one of the veterans. How the world and also the Church have changed! Back then, in 1998, Europeans were still in the majority among the cardinals. Today they are a minority among the new appointees.

Pope Francis comes from South America, from Argentina. From the beginning, he has placed great emphasis on the growing Church in Asia, Africa and Latin America. This is also shown by the appointments on Saturday: two from Brazil, two from India, one cardinal each for Singapore, Nigeria, Ghana, Paraguay, East Timor, Korea and even one for faraway, Mongolia. Europe is represented by four appointments, the USA by one. In a few years, Europe will have only four per cent of the world's population. The cardinals will elect the next pope. He will probably not be a European. His task, however, will be to be a sign of unity in this torn world.

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