Will a Latino be the Next Pope?

By Tony Castro, Voxxi

With the Church struggling with increasing non-churchgoers but an ever-rising Hispanic population in the world, even Pope Benedict XVI sought to bring a more geographically diverse mix into the European-dominated College of Cardinals.

Last fall, he named a Colombian, Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, as one of six new cardinals—part of what the pope called the “unique, universal and all-inclusive identity” of the church.

Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, a rising star in the Catholic church

Salazar Gomez, 70, is thought by many to be a rising star in the church and an outspoken advocate for a peaceful resolution to Colombia’s civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.As such, he is also perhaps the only cardinal who fits the image of a warrior pope, albeit for peace, that could go a long way in reshaping the church’s image as an active crusader to calm the world’s turbulence.

“As church, we have always said that the armed conflict in Colombia must end through dialogue and consensus in order to achieve true and lasting peace,” he told Catholic News Service shortly before being elevated to a cardinal.

In January, the pontiff gave Salazar Gomez a new assignment, making him a member of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Salazar Gomez is also from the southern hemisphere, where two-thirds of the world’s Catholics live. Latin America, which boasts half of the world’s Catholics, now has 21 voting-age cardinals. North America has 14.

Europeans, though, dominate the group of 120 cardinals under age 80 who are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Sixty-two of those cardinals are European.

Other candidates from Latin America

But it is Latin America where the church has grown the most in recent decades. Latin America represents 42 percent of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, the church’s largest single block, compared to 25 percent in Europe.

The possibility of a Latino pope has also been heightened by recent remarks of who might succeed Benedict, among them Archbishop Gerhard Mueller, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the pope’s former position.

“I know a lot of bishops and cardinals from Latin America who could take responsibility for the universal Church,” he said.

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Los Angeles based writer Tony Castro is the author of the critically-acclaimed “Chicano Power: The Emergence of Mexican America” and the best-selling “Mickey Mantle: America’s Prodigal Son.”