Who will be the next pope? Here are some possible cardinal candidates

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) — As we remember the legacy of Pope Francis, people are also looking ahead, wondering who will be taking up the responsibilities of the papacy.

While any baptized Catholic male is eligible, only cardinals have been selected since 1378.

Matthew Bunson is a leading authority on the papacy and the Catholic Church. He’s the executive editor of EWTN news, a Catholic television network.

Bunson explained on CNN that even though 110 of the 135 cardinal electors were named by Pope Francis, they are a diverse group with varying backgrounds and opinions.

“The assumption has always been that the cardinals who were picked by Pope Francis are very uniform, sort of ideologically, to use sort of political terms,” he said, “when in fact, they not only are incredibly diverse geographically, they do hail from literally every corner of the globe, which was something that was very deliberate on the part of Pope Francis, but they are also holding of opinions that are all over the map as well. Again, reflecting in many ways, Pope Francis’s desire to have every corner of the church heard. So this process then, is in many ways underway.”

Here are four cardinals that some consider front-runners in the sacred and secretive process of selecting the next pope.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Francis’ secretary of state since 2014, is considered one of the main contenders to be pope given his prominence in the Catholic hierarchy.

Cardinal Peter Erdo, the archbishop of Budapest and primate of Hungary.

At 67-years old, Cardinal Luis Tagle is on the young side to be elected pope for life, but if elected the popular archbishop of Manila would be the first Asian pope.

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, considered a “street priest” like Francis, is the archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian Bishop’s Conference.

These four men are a small number of the many possible contenders in an unpredictable contest. For now, Bunson reminded us of the moment we are in — saying goodbye to Pope Francis.

“We have noted that the cardinals are on their way to Rome right now,” he said, “almost all of them are certain to be here for the papal funeral on Saturday morning. But right now, everything here in Rome is focused on Pope Francis and saying farewell to the pope who created so many of these cardinals.”

The conclave is set to start in the next two to three weeks, once the mourning period for Pope Francis has passed.