Wanted: A holy man.
Job description: Leading the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church.
Location: Vatican City.
There are for the papacy, but some cardinals are considered 鈥減apabile,鈥� or possessing the characteristics necessary to become pope. After St. John Paul II broke the centurieslong Italian hold on the papacy in 1978, the field of contenders has broadened considerably.
When the cardinals to choose a successor to , the first pontiff from Latin America, they will be looking above all for a holy man who can guide the Catholic Church. Beyond that, they will weigh his administrative and pastoral experience and consider what the church needs today.
Here is a selection of possible contenders, in no particular order. The list will be updated as cardinals continue their closed-door, preconclave discussions.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin
Date of Birth: Jan. 17, 1955
Nationality: Italian
Position: Vatican secretary of state under Francis
Experience: Veteran Vatican diplomat
Made a cardinal by: Francis
The 70-year-old veteran diplomat was Francis' secretary of state, essentially the Holy See's prime minister.
Though associated closely with Francis' pontificate, Parolin is much more demure in personality and diplomatic in his approach to leading than the Argentine Jesuit he served and he knows where the Catholic Church might need a course correction.
Parolin oversaw the Holy See鈥檚 over bishop nominations and was involved -- but not charged -- in the Vatican鈥檚 in a London real estate venture that led to a 2021 trial of another cardinal and nine others. A former ambassador to Venezuela, Parolin knows the Latin American church well and played a key role in the 2014 U.S.-Cuba detente, which the Vatican helped facilitate.
If he were elected, he would return an Italian to the papacy after three successive outsiders: St. John Paul II (Poland), Pope Benedict XVI (Germany) and Francis (Argentina).
But Parolin has very little pastoral experience: He entered the seminary at age 14, four years after his father was killed in a car accident. After his 1980 ordination, he spent two years as a parish priest near his hometown in northern Italy, but then went to Rome to study and entered the Vatican diplomatic service, where he has remained ever since. He has served at Vatican embassies in Nigeria, Mexico and Venezuela.
He is widely respected for his on some of the thorniest dossiers facing the Catholic Church. He has long been involved in the China file, and he played a hands-on role in the Holy See鈥檚 diplomatic rapprochement with Vietnam that resulted in an agreement to establish a resident Vatican representative in the country.
Parolin was also the Vatican鈥檚 point-person in its frustrated efforts to end the wars in Ukraine and the . He has tried to make the church鈥檚 voice heard as the Trump administration began working to end Russia鈥檚 war in Ukraine.
鈥淟et鈥檚 hope we can arrive at a peace that, in order to be solid, lasting, must be a just peace, must involve all the actors who are at stake and take into account the principles of international law and the UN declarations,鈥� he said.
Parolin might find the geopolitical reality ushered in by the Trump administration somewhat unreceptive to the Holy See's .
鈥� By Nicole Winfield in Vatican City
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle
Date of Birth: June 21, 1957
Nationality: Filipino
Position: Pro-Prefect, Dicastery for Evangelization under Francis
Experience: Former archbishop of Manila, Philippines
Made a cardinal by: Benedict
Tagle, 67, is on many bookmakers鈥� lists to be the first Asian pope, a choice that would acknowledge a part of the world where the church is growing.
Francis brought the popular to Rome to head the Vatican鈥檚 missionary evangelization office, which serves the needs of the Catholic Church in much of Asia and Africa. His role took on greater weight when Francis reformed the Vatican bureaucracy. Tagle often cites his Chinese heritage 鈥� his maternal grandmother was part of a Chinese family that moved to the Philippines.
Though he has pastoral, Vatican and management experience 鈥� he headed the Vatican鈥檚 Caritas Internationalis federation of charity groups before coming to Rome permanently 鈥� Tagle would be on the young side to be elected pope, with cardinals perhaps preferring an older candidate whose papacy would be more limited.
Tagle is known as a good communicator and teacher 鈥� key attributes for a pope.
鈥淭he pope will have to do a lot of teaching, we鈥檒l have to face the cameras all the time so if there will be a communicator pope, that鈥檚 very desirable,鈥� said Leo Ocampo, a theology professor at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.
That said, Tagle鈥檚 tenure at Caritas was not without controversy and some have questioned his management skills.
In 2022 Francis , including demoting Tagle. The Holy See said an outside investigation had found 鈥渞eal deficiencies鈥� in management that had affected staff morale at the Caritas secretariat in Rome.
鈥� By Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, and Nicole Winfield in Vatican City
Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu
Date of Birth: Jan. 24, 1960
Nationality: Congolese
Position: Archbishop of Kinshasa, Congo
Experience: President of the bishops conferences of Africa and Madagascar
Made a cardinal by: Francis
The 65-year-old Ambongo is one of Africa's most outspoken Catholic leaders, heading the archdiocese that has the largest number of Catholics on the continent that .
He has been archbishop of Congo's capital since 2018 and a cardinal since in 2019. Francis also appointed him to a group of advisers that was helping reorganize the Vatican bureaucracy.
In Congo and across Africa, Ambongo has been deeply committed to the Catholic orthodoxy and is seen as conservative.
In 2024, he on behalf of the bishops conferences of Africa and Madagascar refusing to follow Francis' in what amounted to continent-wide dissent from a papal teaching. The rebuke crystalized both the African church's line on LGBTQ+ outreach and Ambongo's stature within the African hierarchy.
He has received praise from some in Congo for promoting interfaith tolerance, especially on a continent where religious divisions between Christians and Muslims are common.
鈥淗e is for the openness of the church to different cultures,鈥� said Monsignor Donatien Nshole, secretary-general of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo, who has long worked with Ambongo.
An outspoken government critic, the cardinal is also known for his unwavering advocacy for social justice.
In a country with high poverty and hunger levels despite being rich in minerals, and where fighting by rebel groups has killed thousands and displaced millions in one of the world鈥檚 biggest humanitarian crises, he frequently criticizes both government corruption and inaction, as well as the exploitation of the country鈥檚 natural resources by foreign powers.
鈥淐ongo is the plate from which everyone eats, except for our people,鈥� he said last year during a speech at the Pontifical Antonianum University.
Ambongo's criticism of authorities has drawn both public admiration and legal scrutiny. Last year, prosecutors ordered a judicial investigation of him after accusing him of 鈥渟editious behavior鈥� over his criticism of the government鈥檚 handling of the conflict in eastern Congo.
鈥� By Mark Banchereau in Dakar, Senegal
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi
Date of Birth: Oct. 11, 1955
Nationality: Italian
Current position: Archbishop of Bologna, Italy, president of the Italian bishops conference
Previous position: Auxiliary bishop of Rome
Made a cardinal by: Francis
Zuppi, 69, came up as a street priest in the image of Francis, who promoted him quickly: first to archbishop of the wealthy archdiocese of Bologna in northern Italy in 2015, before bestowing the title of cardinal in 2019.
He is closely closely affiliated with the Sant鈥橢gidio Community, a Rome-based Catholic charity that was influential under Francis, particularly in interfaith dialogue. Zuppi was part of Sant鈥橢gidio鈥檚 team that helped negotiate the end of Mozambique鈥檚 civil war in the 1990s and was named Francis鈥� for Russia鈥檚 war in Ukraine.
He traveled to Kyiv and Moscow after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to the Holy See for help in winning the release of and brought to Russia during the war. The mission also took him to China and the United States.
After making him a cardinal, Francis made clear he wanted him in charge of Italy鈥檚 bishops, a sign of his admiration for the prelate who, like Francis, is known as a 鈥渟treet priest鈥� 鈥� someone who prioritizes ministering to poor and homeless people and refugees.
Zuppi would be a candidate in Francis鈥� tradition of ministering to those on the margins, although his relative youth would count against him for cardinals seeking a short papacy.
In a sign of his progressive leanings, Zuppi wrote the introduction to the Italian edition of 鈥淏uilding a Bridge,鈥� by the Rev. James Martin, an American Jesuit, about the church鈥檚 need to improve its outreach to the LGBTQ+ community.
Zuppi wrote that building bridges with the community was a 鈥渄ifficult process, still unfolding.'' He recognized that 鈥渄oing nothing, on the other hand, risks causing a great deal of suffering, makes people feel lonely, and often leads to the adoption of positions that are both contrasting and extreme.鈥�
Zuppi's family also has strong institutional ties: His father worked for the Vatican newspaper L鈥橭sservatore Romano, and his mother was the niece of Cardinal Carlo Confalonieri, dean of the College of Cardinals in the 1960s and 1970s.
鈥� By Colleen Barry in Vatican City
Cardinal P茅ter Erd艖
Date of Birth: June 25, 1952
Nationality: Hungarian
Position: Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary
Past experience: Twice elected head of the umbrella group of European bishops conferences
Made a cardinal by: John Paul
Known by his peers as a serious theologian, scholar and educator, Erd艖, 72, is a leading contender . He has served as the archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest since 2002 and was made a cardinal by John Paul the following year. He has participated in two conclaves, in 2005 and 2013, for the selection of Benedict and Francis.
Holding doctorates in theology and canon law, Erd艖, speaks six languages, is a proponent of doctrinal orthodoxy, and champions the church鈥檚 positions on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.
Erd艖 opposes same-sex unions, and has also resisted suggestions that Catholics who remarry after divorce be able to receive communion. He stated in 2015 that divorced Catholics should only be permitted communion if they remain sexually abstinent in their new marriage.
An advocate for traditional family structures, he helped organize Francis鈥� 2014 and 2015 Vatican meetings on the family.
From 2006 to 2016, Erd艖 served as president of the Council of European Bishops鈥� Conferences, helping to foster collaboration among Catholic bishops across Europe and to address contemporary issues facing the church on the continent.
While careful to avoid taking part in Hungary鈥檚 often tumultuous political life, Erd艖 has maintained a close relationship with the country鈥檚 rightist populist government, which provides generous subsidies to Christian churches.
He has been reluctant to take positions on several of the government鈥檚 policies that divided society in Hungary such as public campaigns that villainized migrants and refugees and laws that eroded the rights of LGBTQ+ communities.
When hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers entered Europe in 2015 fleeing war and deprivation in the Middle East and Africa, Erd艖 emphasized that the church had a Christian duty to provide humanitarian assistance to those in need, but stopped short of the full-throated advocacy for migrants that was one of .
鈥� By Justin Spike in Budapest, Hungary
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