It has happened. An internet site based in Ireland is already taking bets and have posted the odds on who will be the next pope.

my co-worker thinks they should elect a black pope or one from a developing country. i think it would be awesome, but i dont know if everyone is ready of that yet.

i remember when the pope came to harlem. i mean, he drove throught really fast but i did get to see him.

bless him!

I can't remember what his name is, but there is a black cardinal (or bishop?) in the running. But he's in his early 70s, which may pose a longevity problem. Of course, the others in the "running" are in their late 60s, early 70s, as well. So who knows. It would still be interesting to see and wait for the Conclave to end. The new pope will have his work cut out for him though. My parish is already feeling the affects of the lack of Catholic Priests.

I remember when the pope came here to Chicago in the late 70s. I think they closed the schools because that's the only reason I would be at home. I was sleep and I heard my Grandmother scream " The Pope is coming down Garfield Boulevard". As she was saying that, she was grabbing her coat. My neighborhood is mostly baptists but people came pouring out of their homes to catch a glimpse of him. She was able to take some really nice pictures of him. He was such a sweet man. A coworker asked me why was I upset about the pope's death because I'm baptist. He just didn't realize you did not have to be catholic to love the pope. HE will be sorely missed and I hope they don't elect someone they think will be another version of him. You can't fill his shoes.

For what it's worth...

"Among those whose names have been touted as likely candidates, one of the strongest Italian entries is Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, who heads the Milan archdiocese, one of the world's largest.

Several Latin American cardinals are also considered strong contenders, including Oscar Andre Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Claudio Hummes of Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Dario Castrillon Hoyos of Colombia. Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria has been mentioned as a candidate to be the first African pope, and Christoph Schoenborn, archbishop of Vienna, is also on many informal lists."

By RICHARD N. OSTLING, AP Religion Writer

NEW YORK - More than a third of the College of Cardinals won't be balloting for the next pope.

Pope John Paul II's 1996 decree that set out the rules for papal elections retained a radical change — initiated by Paul VI in 1967 — that bars all cardinals who have reached age 80 from the conclave.
The college currently consists of 117 men with voting rights and 66 who are too old. Ecuador's Antonio Gonzalez Zumarraga just missed out; he reached the limit March 18.
Significantly, 19 nonvoters are Italians, compared with 20 of the electors. If the old rules were still in place that might have helped Italy regain the papacy. There are four nonvoting Brazilians and four Poles. All other nations have one or two.
The older cardinals are allowed to participate in the "general congregations" — the daily meetings of the college before the conclave — and so they may be able to influence the thinking of their under-80 colleagues. But that's all.
The two overage American cardinals are Avery Dulles of New York's Fordham University, the first U.S. theologian honored with a red hat, and Anthony Bevilacqua of Philadelphia, who will remain home and is not giving interviews.
Dulles said he'll arrive in Rome on Thursday and attend the general congregations.
"Being somewhat of a coward, I guess I'm just as glad not to have that weight on my shoulders and entrust that task to others," Dulles said.
Dulles says he won't be "campaigning for anybody," but might mention more general concerns if they aren't raised by others.
He thinks the church "needs somebody with a very wide horizon of the global situation of the church" but is simultaneously "familiar with the Roman scene," knows the Vatican Curia and speaks Italian. Somebody like John Paul II, for instance.

I did not know this. It should make for in interesting outcome to the papal elections.

wow! 2 million plus waiting to see the pope. i am off friday so i might just watch the funeral if it on.

OK, I don't know if this squicks anyone else out, but can we please stop with the photos (on the front page of the paper no less) of the Pope LYING IN STATE??

Yes, I know he's going to be seen by gajillions of people, but it's one thing to view someone in real life and another to see a photo. Yuk!

You might be thinking of Francis Arinze of Nigeria.

A lot of the conventional wisdom is that an older person will be chosen so as not to have two long papacies back-to-back.

I guess they don't believe in makeup either.

A co-worker and I were talking about this yesterday. It's even one thing to have a distant photo, but they've been plastering up close face shots all over the news web sites and TV and I'm "squicked" out by it too (is that really a word?).

Wait until all the people viewing him realize that he wasn't embalmed either...

You're not familiar with the verb conjugation "to squick?"

Actually, the pictures don't bother me except to the extent of how much aging has occurred. He doesn't look like the Pope that I want to remember.

I'm guessing it's a Catholic thing.

I've been to many a Catholic funeral and it's always been open casket for the viewing.