Non-Europeans among favourites to succeed Benedict as pope

With Pope Benedict's stunning announcement that he will resign this month, the time may be coming for the Catholic Church to elect its first non-European leader - and a Latin American could be in line.

In Africa, another high-growth area for the church, both worshippers and clergy have said they hope to see the rise of one of its own.

The Latin American region already represents 42 per cent of the world's 1.2 billion-strong Catholic population, the largest single block in the church, compared to 25 per cent in its European heartland.

After the Pole John Paul and German-born Benedict, the post once reserved for Italians is now open to all.

Francis Arinze of Nigeria, Peter Turkson of Ghana and Marc Ouellet of Canada were among the cardinals hotly tipped by bookmakers on Monday to take over as the next pope.

William Hill bookmakers named 80-year-old Arinze as their favourite and Coral also tipped him as the likeliest successor. Irish bookmaker Paddy Power named Ouellet as the favourite, followed by Arinze and Turkson.

A quarter of the cardinals that can elect a new pope are Italian. The last non-Italian pope before Benedict, who is German, and his Polish predecessor John Paul II was Adrian VI, who died in 1523.

Arinze and Turkson, the head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace who is considered a progressive candidate, are among 18 Africans in the Vatican's College of Cardinals.

Ouellet, a respected theologian who heads up the world's bishops and is seen as a "modern conservative", has also been frequently named in Vatican circles as a possible successor to Benedict.

Two senior Vatican officials recently dropped surprisingly clear hints about possible successors. The upshot of their remarks is that the next pope could well be from Latin America.

"I know a lot of bishops and cardinals from Latin America who could take responsibility for the universal Church," said Archbishop Gerhard Mueller, who now holds the pope's old post as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

"The universal church teaches that Christianity isn't centred on Europe," the German-born archbishop told Germany's Rheinische Post newspaper.

Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, head of the Vatican department for Christian unity, told the Tagesanzeiger daily in Zurich at the same time that the church's future was not in Europe.

"It would be good if there were candidates from Africa or South America at the next conclave," he said, referring to the closed-door election of the pope by cardinals in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel.

Asked if he would vote for a non-European over a European candidate if they were equally qualified, he responded: "Yes."

If it really is Latin America's turn, the leading candidates there seem to be Odilo Scherer, archbishop of the huge diocese of Sao Paulo in Brazil, or the Italian-Argentine Leonardo Sandri, now heading the Vatican department for Eastern Churches.

About half the cardinals who can vote are from Europe, even though only a quarter of Catholics live there. If the conclave tilts to the Old Continent, Vatican watchers say Angelo Scola of Milan is in pole position.

Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, a former student and close ally of Benedict, is also considered a strong candidate.

In Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, trader Chukwuma Awaegwu said: "In America, now we have a black president. So let's just feel the impact of a black pope."

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of South Africa said he hopes someone from "outside the northern hemisphere" could become pope.

Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, a Nigerian who was made a cardinal in November by Pope Benedict, said: "Popes come and popes go. It doesn't mean when a pope comes the church completely changes."

Additional reporting by Associated Press