POPE’S SUCCESSOR: DOUBTS OVER CARDINAL ARINZE’S ELIGIBILITY

Contrary to presumptions, Nigeria’s Cardinal Francis Arinze, may after all not be eligible to vote or be voted for when the College of Cardinals converge at the Vatican to elect a new Pope to replace Pope Benedict XV1. This is because he is over 80 years old.

Some western media had listed Arinze as a top contender in speculative stories on the prospects of a black Pope emerging. "Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana and Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria are in the frame to become the first ever-black pope, certainly in the modern era," reports the British Telegraph newspaper on Wednesday.

But under the terms put in place by Pope Paul VI, cardinals who had reached the age of 80 before the conclave opens had no vote in Papal elections.

THE CHURCH, THE VATICAN AND THE PAPACY

The greatest institution in the entire world is the Catholic Church. Her greatness often leads so many people to develop interest in her. Once you talk about the Church, you are invariably talking about the Papacy, that is, the system of government of the Catholic Church with Pope as the head.  But who on this earth can, with his finite brain, comprehend exhaustively the phenomena of the Pope and of the church.  Many claims are made, many points are raised, many objections are put forward but the question about the papacy remains not adequately answered.  This piece wishes to lend its voice to the awe-inspiring institution of the papacy, taking cognisance of its foundation, structure, problems, achievements and shortcomings; and contemporary papacy as embodied in the Popes of 20th/21st centuries.