A spokesperson for Vatican affairs has listed Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna as being among the candidates for the papacy, even though he’s not yet a cardinal. While it is usual for popes to be cardinals prior to their appointment, it IS possible for the College of Cardinals to select someone else - could that someone be our Archbishop?

During last month’s Synod of Bishops, all the candidates for papacy were put on display. Pope Francis, who succeeded Pope Benedict XVI, turns 82 next month, and has often hinted that his health is failing him. In an article in Crux Now, editor John Allen states, “it’s a myth to assert that one can never see the next pope coming. In the last six papal elections, a real surprise only prevailed twice: Angelo Roncalli as John XIII in 1958, and Karol Wojtyla as John Paul II in 1978.”

Allen goes on to mention three cardinals as being the most likely candidates for the papacy: Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin (63), Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn (73) and American Cardinal Sean O’Malley (74). But his list doesn’t stop there.

“Beyond those conventional choices, the October 2018 synod also put a couple of other personalities on the radar as possible popes, even if neither man is yet a cardinal,” writes Allen. “The first is Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, who, despite being remarkably short in physical stature, left a large impression. He’s been the Vatican’s top prosecutor on sex abuse and the pope’s lead man in Chile, but that’s not his only issue. Scicluna generally came off as smart, informed, multilingual, and the real deal as a “reformer.” The second Archbishop he mentions is Australian Archbishop Anthony Fisher.

Could the next pope be the first Maltese one? Only time will tell!