The next conclave could turn to the East

13 March 2025, The Tablet

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle

Alamy

Feature: Asia’s Catholic leaders

Asia and the Pacific have 28 of the 137 cardinals eligible to vote if there were to be a conclave tomorrow. That’s more than the relatively heavily Catholic South America or Africa, with 18 voting cardinals each, or North America with 16. Might the combination of the Holy Spirit and the petty infighting and power grabbing of the conclave fathers bring the Church its first Asian pope since Syrian-born Gregory III in the eighth century?

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