Headline

Three Africans, 13 Other Cardinals Emerge As Potential Successors To Pope Francis

Published

5 months ago

May 5, 2025

Editor

With no official campaigning or list of candidates and the election process shrouded in secrecy, speculation about who will succeed Pope Francis after the conclave beginning this week remains just that — speculation.

But here are 16 cardinals who are among the potential favourites to succeed Pope Francis — so-called “papabili” — divided by region.

AFRICA

Peter Turkson (Ghana), 76, Archbishop emeritus of Cape Coast

One of the Church’s most influential cardinals from Africa, Turkson has for years been mentioned as a possible first black pope.

Made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2003, the multi-lingual Turkson has been a papal envoy and mediator, including in South Sudan.

He also served between 2016 and 2021 as head of a top Vatican department, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, which deals with human rights and migration among other issues.

Born into a humble family of 10 children, Turkson has criticised anti-gay legislation in Uganda, but defends Catholic sexual morality and has denied that homosexuality is a human rights issue.

Robert Sarah (Guinea), 79, former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

Had Pope Francis lived a few more months, conservative prelate Robert Sarah — who turns 80 on June 16 — would have been too old to join the conclave or to succeed him.

As it is, though, he has found himself championed by conservative Catholics in the French-speaking world as a candidate to turn the clock back on progressive reforms.

An ardent opponent of what he in 2015 called “Western ideologies on homosexuality and abortion and Islamic fanaticism”, he denounced a 2024 text that paved the way for the blessing of same-sex couples.

Experts believe his views make him too conservative to win a two-thirds majority at the conclave, but even a possible candidacy has boosted his profile.

Fridolin Ambongo Besungu (Democratic Republic of Congo), 65, Archbishop of Kinshasa

Ambongo was the only cardinal from Africa on Pope Francis’s advisory council of cardinals, and is the leader of the association of African bishops, SECAM.

Born in 1960, the year of DRC’s independence from Belgium, he has been a strong voice for peace in his conflict-ridden country — and is outspoken in his conservative views.

He notably signed a letter in January 2024 voicing opposition to the Vatican’s declaration allowing priests to carry out non-liturgical blessings of same-sex unions.

In a 2023 interview, Ambongo — who some believe could be his continent’s first pope — proclaimed that “Africa is the future of the Church, it’s obvious”.

EUROPE

Pietro Parolin (Italy), 70, Francis’s number two at the Vatican

Parolin was secretary of state — the Vatican’s effective number two — for almost Francis’s entire pontificate, and its most visible exponent on the world stage.

Known for his calm and subtle sense of humour, the polyglot also has a fine grasp of the intricacies of the Roman Curia, the Holy See’s central government, and was part of a group of cardinal advisers to Francis.

He is currently considered the frontrunner to become the next pope.

He played a key role in a landmark — and controversial — 2018 Vatican agreement with China on naming bishops.

Pierbattista Pizzaballa (Italy), 60, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem

Pizzaballa is the top Catholic in the Middle East with an archdiocese encompassing Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Cyprus.

He was made a cardinal in September 2023, shortly before the war broke out between Israel and Hamas.

The Franciscan has appealed for peace from both sides, and at Christmas in 2024 led mass in both Gaza and Jerusalem.

Matteo Maria Zuppi (Italy), 69, Archbishop of Bologna

A member of the Roman community of Sant’Egidio, Zuppi has for more than three decades acted as a discreet diplomat for the Vatican including serving as Pope Francis’s special peace envoy for Ukraine.

Known for riding his bicycle around Bologna, Zuppi is a popular figure for his decades of work on behalf of the needy. He also advocates for welcoming migrants and gay Catholics into the Church.

He has been president of the Italian Episcopal Conference since 2022.

Claudio Gugerotti (Italy), 69

An academic and multi-lingual diplomat from the Italian city of Verona, Gugerotti is an expert on the Eastern Churches.

He has served as nuncio — or ambassador of the Holy See — in several countries, including from 2002 in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, later in Belarus, and then from 2015 to 2020 in Ukraine.

The author of several books, Gugerotti largely avoids commenting on controversial issues. He was named Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches in 2022, and was made a cardinal in 2023.

Jean-Marc Aveline (France), 66, Archbishop of Marseille

Born in Algeria, Aveline has spent most of his life in the French port city of Marseille.

Like his close friend Pope Francis, he has been a voice for welcoming migrants and promoting interreligious dialogue.

Appreciated for his discretion, intellectual abilities and people skills, Aveline has carved out a reputation as a cardinal to watch since his elevation in 2022.

Anders Arborelius (Sweden), 75, Bishop of Stockholm

Appointed in 2017 as Sweden’s first cardinal, Arborelius is a convert to Catholicism in the overwhelmingly Protestant Scandinavian country, home to one of the world’s most secularised societies.

He is the first Swedish Catholic bishop since the Protestant Reformation and a staunch defender of Church doctrine, notably opposed to allowing women to be deacons or blessing same-sex couples.

Like Pope Francis, Arborelius advocates welcoming migrants to Europe, including Christians, Catholics and potential converts.

Mario Grech (Malta), 68, Bishop emeritus of Gozo

Born into a small village on the tiny Mediterranean archipelago of Malta, Grech is a peace broker and potential compromise candidate for the papacy.

He was secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, a body that gathers information from local churches on crucial issues for the Church — such as the place of women or remarried divorcees – and passes it onto the pope.

He had to perform a delicate balancing act, following Pope Francis’s lead on creating an open, attentive Church while acknowledging the concerns of conservatives.

Peter Erdo (Hungary), 72, Metropolitan Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest

An intellectual and respected expert in canon law, Erdo speaks seven languages, has published more than 25 books and is recognised for his openness to other religions.

But he has faced criticism for his ties with the government of nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose harsh views on migration clashed with those of the late Argentine pope.

Known for his enthusiasm for evangelism, Erdo — who grew up under Communism — is a conservative on such issues as gay marriage and divorcees who remarry.

Jean-Claude Hollerich, 66, Archbishop of Luxembourg

A Jesuit like Pope Francis, Hollerich spent more than 20 years in Japan, and is a specialist in European-Asian cultural relations as well as German literature.

Firm on dogma, the theologian is still open to the need for the Church to adapt to societal changes, much like the Argentine pope he was close to and for whom he served as an adviser on the Council of Cardinals.

Hollerich has advocated for the environment and has pushed for laypeople, especially young people, to have more involvement in the Church.

ASIA

Luis Antonio Tagle (Philippines), 67, Metropolitan Archbishop emeritus of Manila

Tagle, Asia’s frontrunner for the papacy, is a charismatic moderate who has not been afraid to criticise the Church for its shortcomings, including over the sexual abuse of minors.

Fluent in English and active on social media, he is an eloquent speaker with self-deprecating humour and, like Francis, is a leading advocate for the poor, migrants and marginalised people.

Nicknamed “Chito”, he was made a cardinal by Benedict XVI in 2012 and had already been considered a candidate for pope in the 2013 conclave in which Francis was elected.

Charles Maung Bo (Myanmar), 76, Archbishop of Yangon

Myanmar-born Bo became the Buddhist-majority country’s first and only cardinal in 2015, appointed by Pope Francis.

Bo has called for dialogue and reconciliation in conflict-ridden Myanmar, and after the military coup of 2021 appealed to opposition protesters to remain non-violent.

He has defended the mainly Muslim Rohingya, calling them victims of “ethnic cleansing”, and spoken out against human trafficking uprooting the lives of many young Burmese.

He was head of the Federation of Asians Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) between 2019 and 2024.

AMERICAS

Robert Francis Prevost (United States), 69, Archbishop-Bishop emeritus of Chiclayo

A native of Chicago, Prevost was in 2023 appointed prefect of the powerful Dicastery for Bishops, which is charged with advising the pope on appointments of new bishops.

He spent years as a missionary in Peru and is the Archbishop-Bishop emeritus of Chiclayo in that South American country.

Made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023, he is also the president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

Timothy Dolan (United States), 75, Archbishop of New York

A jovial, ruddy-faced extrovert with Irish-American roots, Dolan is a theological conservative, fiercely opposed to abortion.

The former archbishop of Milwaukee, he oversaw the fallout from a major sexual abuse scandal in the diocese.

In New York, amid shrinking Church membership, Dolan has reached out to embrace the growing Hispanic population, which is predominantly Catholic.

AFP

Headline

Antitrust Trial: US Asks Court To Break Up Google’s Ad Business

Published

1 hour ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

Google faces a fresh federal court test on Monday as US government lawyers ask a judge to order the breakup of the search engine giant’s ad technology business.

The lawsuit is Google’s second such test this year, following a similar government demand to split up its empire that was shot down by a judge earlier this month.

Monday’s case focuses specifically on Google’s ad tech “stack” — the tools that website publishers use to sell ads and that advertisers use to buy them.

In a landmark decision earlier this year, Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema agreed with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that Google maintained an illegal grip on this market.

Monday’s trial is set to determine what penalties and changes Google must implement to undo its monopoly.

According to filings, the US government will argue that Google should spin off its ad publisher and exchange operations. The DOJ will also ask that after the divestitures are complete, Google be banned from operating an ad exchange for 10 years.

Google will argue that the divestiture demands go far beyond the court’s findings, are technically unfeasible, and would be harmful to the market and smaller businesses.

“We’ve said from the start that DOJ’s case misunderstands how digital advertising works and ignores how the landscape has dramatically evolved, with increasing competition and new entrants,” said Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs.

In a similar case in Europe, the European Commission, the EU’s antitrust enforcer, earlier this month fined Google 2.95 billion euros ($3.47 billion) over its control of the ad tech market.

Brussels ordered behavioral changes, drawing criticism that it was going easy on Google as it had previously indicated that a divestiture may be necessary.

This remedy phase of the US trial follows a first trial that found Google operated an illegal monopoly. It is expected to last about a week, with the court set to meet again for closing arguments a few weeks later.

The trial begins in the same month that a separate judge rejected a government demand that Google divest its Chrome browser, in an opinion that was largely seen as a victory for the tech giant.

That was part of a different case, also brought by the US Department of Justice, in which the tech giant was found responsible for operating an illegal monopoly, this time in the online search space.

Instead of a major breakup of its business, Google was required to share data with rivals as part of its remedies.

The US government had pushed for Chrome’s divestment, arguing the browser serves as a crucial gateway to the internet that brings in a third of all Google web searches.

Shares in Google-parent Alphabet have skyrocketed by more than 20 percent since that decision.

Judge Brinkema has said in pre-trial hearings that she will closely examine the outcome of the search trial when assessing her path forward in her own case.

These cases are part of a broader bipartisan government campaign against the world’s largest technology companies. The US currently has five pending antitrust cases against such companies.

AFP

Headline

Google Faces Court Battle Over Breakup Of Ad Tech Business

Published

2 hours ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

Google faces a fresh federal court test on Monday as US government lawyers ask a judge to order the breakup of the search engine giant’s ad technology business.

The lawsuit is Google’s second such test this year after the California-based tech juggernaut saw a similar government demand to split up its empire shot down by a judge earlier this month.

Monday’s case focuses specifically on Google’s ad tech “stack” — the tools that website publishers use to sell ads and that advertisers use to buy them.

In a landmark decision earlier this year, Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema agreed with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that Google maintained an illegal grip on this market.
Monday’s trial is set to determine what penalties and changes Google must implement to undo its monopoly.

Google will argue that the divestiture demands go far beyond the court’s findings, are technically unfeasible, and would be harmful to the market and smaller businesses.

In a similar case in Europe, the European Commission, the EU’s antitrust enforcer, earlier this month fined Google 2.95 billion euros ($3.47 billion) over its control of the ad tech market.
Brussels ordered behavioral changes, drawing criticism that it was going easy on Google as it had previously indicated that a divestiture may be necessary.

The trial begins in the same month that a separate judge rejected a government demand that Google divest its Chrome browser, in an opinion that was largely seen as a victory for the tech giant.

That was part of a different case, also brought by the US Department of Justice, in which the tech giant was found responsible for operating an illegal monopoly, this time in the online search space.
Instead of a major breakup of its business, Google was required to share data with rivals as part of its remedies.

The US government had pushed for Chrome’s divestment, arguing the browser serves as a crucial gateway to the internet that brings in a third of all Google web searches.
Shares in Google-parent Alphabet have skyrocketed by more than 20 percent since that decision.

Judge Brinkema has said in pre-trial hearings that she will closely examine the outcome of the search trial when assessing her path forward in her own case.

These cases are part of a broader bipartisan government campaign against the world’s largest technology companies. The US currently has five pending antitrust cases against such companies.

Headline

Peru Anti-government Protesters Clash With Police

Published

24 hours ago

September 21, 2025

Editor

Hundreds of anti-government protesters clashed with police in the Peruvian capital Lima on Saturday, throwing stones and sticks as officers fired tear gas on the demonstrators, AFP journalists reported.

The protest, organized by a youth collective called “Generation Z”, is part of growing social unrest in Peru against organized crime, corruption in public office, and a recent pension reform.

“Today, there is less democracy than before. It’s getting worse… because of fear, because of extortion,” said 54-year-old protester Gladys, who declined to give her last name.

Around 500 people gathered in the city center, under heavy police presence.

“Congress has no credibility, it doesn’t even have the approval of the people… It is wreaking havoc in this country,” said protester Celene Amasifuen.

The clashes broke out as demonstrators tried to approach executive and congressional buildings in Lima.

The radio station Exitosa said that its reporter and a cameraman were hit by pellets, commonly fired by law enforcement.

Police said at least three officers were wounded.

Approval ratings for President Dina Boluarte, whose term ends next year, have plummeted amid rising extortion and organized crime cases.

Several opinion polls show the government and conservative-majority Congress are seen by many as corrupt institutions.

This week, the legislature passed a law requiring young adults to join a private pension fund, despite many facing a precarious working environment.