Nigerian or Canadian tipped as next pope
2013-02-11 18:53
London - 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 from Pope Benedict XVI.
William Hill bookmakers named 80-year-old Arinze as their
favourite to replace the pontiff following Monday's shock announcement of the
pontiff's resignation with odds of 2-1, followed by Turkson at 5-2.
Coral also tipped Arinze as the likeliest successor with
odds of 7-4, followed by Turkson at 2-1 and Ouellet in third place at 5-1.
The bookmaker also offered odds of 8-1 on Archbishop
Angelo Scola of Italy and 10-1 on Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of
Honduras.
Irish bookmaker Paddy Power named Ouellet as the
favourite with odds of 5-2, followed by Arinze at 3-1 and Turkson at 4-1.
During the 2005 conclave of the Vatican's College of
Cardinals that elected Benedict, Arinze was considered "papabile”, or a
potential successor to the late John Paul II.
"When we opened betting last time around, in 2005,
Francis Arinze was our favourite," a William Hill spokesperson told AFP.
"His odds did drift towards the date of the
announcement when Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) became the
favourite, but he remained in the top three.
"Also, when Ratzinger became pope, Arinze took over
from him as cardinal bishop of Velletri-Segni [a Catholic diocese close to
Rome] - it could be that he'll follow in his footsteps again."
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.
At the humorous end of the scale, Coral was offering
2000-1 on disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong becoming pope.
