Illinois Native Among Front-Runners To Become New Pope

Will there finally be an American pope?

Just hours after an appearance for Easter Sunday, Pope Francis passed away at 88. Now, many are wondering who will succeed him in the role.

As NBC Chicago reports, the Pope may be any baptized Catholic male but since 1378, only Cardinals have been selected to take over the position. The winner has to get at least two-thirds of the vote from Cardinals under the age of 80.

It is a secretive, unique process to pick out a new pope, but there are front-runners in the contingency that are known as "papabile".

There Has Never Been An American Pope

The idea of a pope being from the United States has been kinda taboo. But one Cardinal who is among the papabile now could find himself in that position.

Cardinal Robert Prevost, who was born in Chicago, is currently the prefect for the Vatican's dicastery for bishops (he vets nominations for bishops around the world). The late Pope Francis watched Prevost for years and in 2014, sent him to run the diocese in Chiclayo, Peru (where Prevost had previous work as a missionary and archbishop) which he did until 2023.

Prevost, who is 69, is also president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, which is unique in that the role keeps him in constant contact with the part of the world that still counts the most Catholics.

As far as the papal consideration goes, his youth may work against him. As NBC Chicago points out, compared to other papabile, he is young and his fellow cardinals may not want to commit to a pope that could possibly reign for another two decades.

When will we know? The order of events goes like this: 4-6 days after a pope dies, the papal funeral is held. 15 days after that, the cardinals gather together for a conclave in the Sistene Chapel. They will spend days voting on who should become the next pope.