Having communicated with a most reliable source, it it intuitively obvious to the most casual of observers that the logical choice for next pope is: Cardinal Luis Antonio "Chito" Tagle of Manila.
If you put the following factors into a computer, here's what I conclude:
Assuming the Italians fail in their last ditch attempt to retake the papacy, the College of Cardinals will look to a non European successor of Peter.
As a Filipino, he bridges the gap between European and non, by coming from a country geographically in Asia but with a culture closer to Latin America.
With 75.5 million fervent, still-practicing Catholics, they must be doing something right.
He is media savvy, with a weekly TV show called "Break Open the Word" in which he comfortably, pastorally and, most important, understandably links the readings of each Sunday's Mass and presents them in such a way so ordinary people can follow.
His parents are both alive: his mother is Chinese Filipino. He comes from a modest background.
He is a close friend to many Maryknollers. (But I do not think we ought to flatter ourselves by thinking we are that well-known among the other Cardinals to make this a negative!)
He is known to help out at soup kitchens and open his house to the homeless.
He is the youngest of the papabilli, at 55. But who knows? Maybe Benedict's example might encourage his successors to put in ten good years and then pass the tiara to the next one.
But here's the clincher for me: he's been on FaceBook for YEARS!
That being said, the most glaring mistake in these considerations is to think the election of a pope has anything to do with logic.
Meanwhile, news from Seoul via Chicago is that His Eminence Archbishop Andrew Yeom Soo Jung has agreed to be the ordaining prelate at the priestly ordination of Deacon Dae Wook Kim here at Maryknoll, N.Y., on Saturday, June 1.
