Some of the cardinals considered top contenders to become the next pope were visible this morning. Among them were Cardinal Pietro Parolin – widely viewed as the frontrunner – and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, who was spotted in the front row.
Christopher Lamb, CNN’s Vatican correspondent, said that the presence of high-profile cardinals in visible positions is “important to watch,” but cautioned against assuming any clear favorite.
“There is that saying, ‘he who enters the conclave as pope, leaves it as a cardinal,’ so I think in this conclave it’s the outsiders who could storm through,” he said. “The politics do play a role, and I think that it has led some cardinals to think that past conventional wisdom – that there can’t be an American pope – no longer holds.”
Many of the frontrunners are Italian, though Lamb noted that the country’s cardinals have historically struggled to unite behind a single name.
Update:
Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope in history, emerges.
