Portuguese patriarch is dark horse papal candidate

[emad]

Stephen Bates, religious affairs correspondent
Monday April 11, 2005
The Guardian

A dark-horse candidate for pope, capable of bridging the divide between the Europeans and the Latin American Roman Catholic cardinals, appears to be emerging in the shape of the Patriarch of Portugal, Jose da Cruz Policarpo.

A week before the cardinals start voting to elect a pope, the 115 men will pause in their devotions to canvass each others' opinions on the next pontiff.

On Saturday they decided to give no more formal interviews to the media, but that will not preclude their own lobbying and discussions. Alongside Policarpo, Claudio Hummes, of Brazil, is emerging as a potential favourite.

With the debate expected to focus on whether the pope should be European or whether the cardinals should open the papacy to a candidate from the church's growing Latin American congregations, the men are regarded as bridges between the continents.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,12272,1456769,00.html

I EXPECT many such dark horses to emerge in the next few days. There is a news blackout in the Vatican Conclave so whoever is putting money on dark horses must be having quite a gamble...