A Pope in image of his followers by Tony Green

Image of a Catholic Church

The unexpected resignation of Pope Benedict will require the voting cardinals from around the world to assemble at a conclave to vote on who the next leader of the Catholic Church will be.  I describe myself as a Christian, and while I have never even attended a mass or made confession with a priest, I could not help to ponder the question of whether the Pope should reflect the face of his worshippers?”

The last two pontiffs chosen to be pope were of European descent, the recently retired Benedict XVI is from Germany and Pope John Paul II was from Italy.

This is stark contrast with the composition of the Catholic Church globally. According to the CIA Factbook, as of 2009, there were over 1.1 billion Catholics worldwide (over 17% of the world’s population) and 75% of these reside in countries outside of Europe.  

These countries include the Americas (North central and South), Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. What is the possibility of the new Pope being selected from one of these locations? Is the election determined by tradition? Perhaps it is the Will of God?

As the conclave gets underway in a few weeks to elect a new Pope although I have no direct proof other then my intuition who wants to bet the cardinal which will be voted as the 266^th pope elected since 32 A.D. will be of the same ethnicity of Benedict XVI and John Paul II?

Upon further review the United States is 12% African-American according to the latest census and Barack Obama was recently re-elected as its president for a second time so who are Americans and me in particular to judge what the face of any organizations chosen leader should look like?