Could a Swedish cardinal become the next pope?
Sweden's first and only Catholic cardinal, Anders Arborelius, is one of the possible candidates to become the next pope after Pope Francis died on Easter Monday. How likely is it that he takes over?
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Who is Sweden's Catholic cardinal?
In 2017, Bishop Anders Arborelius was made a cardinal by Pope Francis, joining 252 cardinals worldwide to act as advisors to the pope. Cardinals typically hold the title for the rest of their lives, and those under the age of 80 are part of the conclave, the group in charge of choosing the next pope.
Arborelius is 75 years old, so will be able to cast his vote in the conclave's secret ballot, but what are the chances that he takes over from Pope Francis?
What about Arborelius?
Last year, Arborelius was named one of three possible papal candidates in French newspaper Le Figaro, besides Hungarian Péter Erdő and Italian Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's current foreign minister.
At the time, Le Figaro said that Arborelius 'moves in both conservative and progressive circles', with the fact that he comes from Sweden, an extremely secular country, working in his favour.
Sweden's former ambassador to the Vatican, Ulla Gudmundson, told public broadcaster Sveriges Radio last year that she doesn't think it's likely Arborelius would take over.
'He's not very well known among the other cardinals who are responsible for choosing a new pope,' she said.
'Everything is possible,' she added. 'He could be seen as a candidate who is a compromise if they're struggling to reach an agreement, but I don't think, despite what Le Figaro writes, that he's one of the absolute top candidates just yet.'
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Who else is in the running?
There are a number of possible new papal candidates being floated in the media.
The other European cardinals in the running include Mario Grech from Malta and Matteo Zuppi from Italy.
Potential non-European popes include Fridolin Ambongo from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Peter Turkson from Ghana, Pietbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Gérald Cyprien Lacroix from Canada and Luis Tagle from the Philippines.
Arborelius told Swedish public broadcaster SVT that he thinks it is 'very unlikely' he would be chosen as the new pope, adding that he expects the role will go to someone from Africa or Asia. It's also likely that the role could go to an Italian – most popes throughout history have been from Italy and the Vatican is in Rome.
Bookmakers have Tagle as the most likely to take over with odds of 3:1, followed by Parolin, 4:1 and Turkson, 5:1.
If Tagle takes over he would be the first Asian pope, while Turkson would be the first Black pope. If Arborelius became the new pope, he wouldn't just be the first Swedish pope but the first Scandinavian pope, too.
The last pope, Pope Francis, was an unexpected choice, so it's not entirely unlikely that the cardinals would choose someone who hasn't been mentioned in the media.
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Would Arborelius say yes if he was chosen?
Arborelius told SVT that he had asked Francis to release him from his duties as a cardinal as he wished to return to his monastery in southern Sweden, and said that Francis had agreed to do so, without setting a formal deadline for this to occur.
'So I'm hanging a bit loose now,' he said.
Despite this, experts believe that he would still accept the role of pope if he was elected.
'I think he's a traditionalist and would see it as a duty,' church history professor Joel Halldorf told SVT.
How is a pope elected?
The next pope will be elected by the conclave within the coming weeks. They will vote in secrecy, with the winning candidate requiring over two thirds of the vote. Conclaves usually take a few days.
After each vote, the ballots are burned, with black smoke signalling a failure to reach an agreement. Once white smoke emerges from the chimney of the Vatican, that signals a new pope has been elected.
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