Election of the Pope

 Now, with Pope Francis buried and the whole mood shifting towards the upcoming conclave, everyone is keen to decipher who would be the next Pope.  

A particular news article carried this headline: '... Potential candidates as the Pope' I could only smile reading the headline alone. I never read the article. Not a line of it.  That very phrase 'potential candidate' is a weird one to be used in the context of the election of the Pope.  Perhaps we can speak or discuss about the same 'possibilities' while speaking about a political leader or the head of a small well known and knit group.  But to speak of 'potential candidates' for the Papacy is a paradox or contradiction.  

As one cardinal rightly replied, on being asked after the funeral of Pope Francis, if the next Pope could be an Asian, pointing heavenwards, 'Only He knows'. 

And even if one is still keen to discuss potential candidates, let that be based on virtues of what Pope Francis himself lived during his Papacy: a life of witness, simplicity, love for humanity in its fragility and brokenness, a deep connection with God, a total detachment from wealth and luxury, works and policies marked by mercy and love rather than adherence to tradition...