The new pope will be chosen through a conclave, a special gathering of cardinals who are sequestered in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican until they agree on a successor.
The surprise resignation may reopen rifts within the church as pressure builds to name a pope from the developing world where Catholicism is growing, offsetting declines in Europe and the U.S. Ghanian Cardinal Peter Turkson is the favorite to become pope after Benedict XVI resigns at the end of the month.
Nigeria’s Francis Arinze, 80 is slowly approaching an elderly age, but seems to be in the running. READ MORE
