The Pope Will Be Italian, Wherever He's Born

As the Catholic Church grows more global, what will become of its historic roots?

- Howard Chua-Eoan

It's been almost half a century since questions could be shut down with the verity: "Is the pope Italian?" In that time, the Roman Catholic Church has been led by a Pole, a German, and an Argentine—the longest consecutive line of non-Italians since seven Frenchmen occupied the throne of St. Peter. And that was during the 67-year period in the 14th century when the papacy had relocated to Avignon, France.

Until the 1978 election of John Paul II—born Karol Wojtyla and archbishop of Krakow—there had been 455 years of Italian popes. As the Holy See prepares for the May 7 conclave to elect a successor to the late Pope Francis, an unofficial but authoritative list of 22 papabili (pope-ables) includes just five Italian cardinals.

Indeed, the main standard-bearers for the liberal and conservative wings of the church are from Southeast Asia and West Africa, respectively: Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines and Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea. Even if an Italian is anointed, he'll be leading one of the most diverse and globalized of organizations, religious or otherwise: The pope is the designated spiritual and moral head of the nearly 1.4 billion people across the world who identify as Catholic. Italy isn't even the most populous of Catholic nations. That would be Brazil.