I really appreciate reading a thread about the Pope that is respectful, even if one disagrees with some of his/the Church's teachings.
Pope John Paul II is a hero of mine and I feel a daughter's love for him, so I'm hesitant to discuss his successor while he's still alive... but I've heard good things about Cardinal Arinze from Africa.
It's not a matter of choosing a pope who is "conservative" or "liberal"... from Europe, North America or elsewhere... but one who is loyal to the magisterium, the teachings of the Church. That is why Arinze's name has come up and Mahoney's of L.A. has not.
I've gotten weary of the media's constant death watch of JPII. It seems like they've been waiting for him to die for years. Maybe his time is near, maybe it isn't. I don't think it's his fragile health that has been sustaining him anyway.
