Pope Resigns

     The article, "Who Will Be Next Pope After Pope Benedict XVI's Resignation?" was written by Cavan Sieczkowski in The Huffington Post on February 11, 2013. Pope Benedict XVI of the Catholic Church plans to resign from the papal office on February 28, 2013. This marks the first resignation of a pope in the Catholic Church in almost 600 years, with the last pope being Pope Gregory XII in 1415. Benedict was elected in April 2005, and announced Monday, February 11, that he would no longer lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. Traditionally, a Pope's reign ends with his death, and a mourning period continues. However, being that the situation is different, the College of Cardinals will meet to elect the next pope sometime in March. There are 118 electors eligible to vote for the successor as of January 2013, with Italy having the most electors, twenty eight, and the United States having eleven. A conclave, a meeting of the cardinals to elect the next pope, could occur early as mid-March. The conclave must begin fifteen to twenty days after the Pope's resignation, with the eligible cardinals, who are all under the age of eighty, casting their votes in secret at the Sistine Chapel. Two votes are held in the morning, and two in the afternoon, until a new Pope is chosen. The ballots are burned after each round, with black smoke signifying that there has been no decision, and white smoke signifying a new Pope has been chosen. Three Vatican experts told USA Today that the top five cardinal contenders include: Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa; Cardinal Marc Ouellet, former Archbishop of Quebec; Cardinal Angelo Scola, Archbishop of Milan; Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture; and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, head of the Vatican's office for Eastern Churches.However, cardinals from Latin America are also in the running, because "The universal Church teaches that Christianity isn't centered on Europe." Also, two cardinals from Africa are each front-runners, which could possibly make them the first black Popes.