Electors unlikely to choose foreign successor

SOME Vatican insiders say that when cardinals come to elect a successor to Pope John Paul II they may prefer to return to a safe Italian candidate, like the vast majority of past pontiffs.

“After John Paul II, the tendency will be to elect an Italian, given centuries of tradition, and that this nationality doesn’t upset anyone, which wouldn’t be the case with an American, a German or a Frenchman,” one Vatican source said on condition of anonymity.

“I don’t think the college of electors will risk electing a foreigner. The Italians are the inner circle. They really know how the curia works,” another insider said, referring to the church’s bureaucracy.