As Pope Francis, one of the greatest revolutionaries in the history of Christianity, has passed into history, the world eagerly awaits his successor.

He personified and also led the tectonic changes which are transforming the global Catholic Church. Francis was the first non-European Pope in the last 1200 years and the first Latin American, the first Jesuit, and the first from the Southern Hemisphere to head the Catholic Church. More than a symbol of change, he was a change-maker too. Pope Francis stood out from all his predecessors in his relentless efforts to make the Church less elitist and more inclusive. He appointed women as full voting members in the synods to transform the notoriously male-dominated Church. He stood for migrant and marginalised communities to emphasise the importance of social justice and softened the homophobic Catholic Church’s approach towards sexual minorities and divorcees. He kept away from the ostentatious ways of the Church leadership to embrace the poor and the humble. He opened the doors of the traditionally European-dominated Catholic Church leadership to members from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Even representatives from small countries in Africa and Asia found a place in the all-powerful Collegium of Cardinals, thanks to Francis.

So all eyes are now on the Vatican to know if Pope Francis’s successor, to be elected by the Collegium of Cardinals by May second week, will be a person who will take his inclusive and truly catholic vision forward, in both body and spirit. Logically, the next step after Francis’s revolutionary innings should be to elect a pontiff from either Asia or Africa, which are also the continents where the Catholic Church has a growing presence in contrast to its European citadels, where it is losing clout. Though there are cardinals who are “papabile” (potential candidates to be pontiff), a Pope from these continents may have to wait for some more time to come. Europe still dominates the 252-member Collegium of Cardinals, of which 136 are below 80 years with voting power to elect the new pope. Next comes Asia, which has 37 cardinals of whom only 24 are electors, constituting only 17% of the collegium. Africa is third with 11 of its 18 cardinals being electors. Latin America, from which Pope Francis came, has 15........

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