Appointing a new Pope

Comments based on this piece in the New York Times.

The Church must in the near future elect a new pope to run its business, so to speak, and the article says that the Church could really benefit from an appointment from the Latin America or Africa. Among the variety of other problems facing the church in Latin America, the article addresses how the Pentecostal Church is gaining ground in Latin America and how the Latin American church is trying to fight against such malleable Christian practices.

I think a Latin American pope (or an African pope) for that matter seems like a highly unlikely scenario for the Church. My impression of the Catholic Church seems to stick with tradition, and I wager that most likely a European cardinal will be picked. However, I do feel that if a Latin American pope gets picked (provided it is the right one who believes in liberation theology, or at least the need to give the indigenous/poor people some political power), perhaps that pope could address the social inequality that exists in Latin America.

I also found it very interesting that the Pope was wary about legitimizing the roots of liberation theology because he lived under a Marxist-Leninist government. I was surprised because I always thought liberation theology had some sort of doctrinal teaching support of the church.