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Pope Francis speaks to Marseille’s archbishop Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, at a mass at the Velodrome Stadium, as a part of his journey on the occasion of the Mediterranean Meetings in Marseille, France, Sept. 23, 2023. Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS
An old Italian saying warns against putting faith, or money, in any presumed front-runner ahead of the conclave, the closed-door gathering of cardinals that picks the pontiff. It cautions: “He who enters a conclave as a pope, leaves it as a cardinal.”
But here are some cardinals who are being talked about as “papabili” to succeed Pope Francis, whose death at the age of 88 was announced by the Vatican on Monday.
Pope Francis waves as he arrives to lead the weekly audience in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican, October 21, 2015. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi
Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, has died, the Vatican said on Monday, ending an often turbulent reign marked by division and tension as he sought to overhaul the hidebound institution.
Pope Francis attends the consistory ceremony to elevate Roman Catholic prelates to the rank of cardinal, in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sept. 30, 2023. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
Before he was hospitalized for double pneumonia, Pope Francis was battling firm resistance from some of his own cardinals about how to plug a widening gap in the Vatican’s finances.
A faithful from Bolivia holds lit candles with the portrait of Pope Francis outside the Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Francis is admitted to continue treatment for a respiratory tract infection, in Rome, Italy, Feb. 18, 2025. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
Pope Francis has shown the onset of double pneumonia, further complicating treatment for the 88-year pontiff, the Vatican said on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump speaks during the annual National Prayer Breakfast at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Feb. 6, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would create a White House faith office and direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead a task force on eradicating what he called anti-Christian bias within the federal government.
Palestinians react as they wait for news of a ceasefire deal with Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Jan. 15, 2025. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, an official briefed on the deal told Reuters on Wednesday, opening the way to a possible end to a 15-month war that has upended the Middle East.
Pope Francis meets with the Italian pilgrims of the Camino de Santiago cared for by the Don Guanella organization at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican, Dec. 19, 2024. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
An Israeli government minister criticized Pope Francis on Friday for suggesting the international community should study whether Israel’s military offensive in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.
Mike Huckabee looks on as Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump reacts during a campaign event at the Drexelbrook Catering and Event Center, in Drexel Hill, Penn., Oct. 29, 2024. Trump, now President-elect, has said will nominate Huckabee as U.S. ambassador to Israel. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
An evangelical Christian, Huckabee has been a vocal supporter of Israel throughout his political career and a longtime defender of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. A former Republican presidential hopeful, Huckabee hosted a weekly Fox News TV show for six years ending in 2015.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby looks on as he speaks with the press after a visit to the grave of Saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero, during a visit to El Salvador, at The Metropolitan Cathedral in San Salvador, El Salvador, June 4, 2024. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned “in sorrow” on Tuesday, saying he had failed to ensure there was a proper investigation into allegations of abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps decades ago.
President Joe Biden gestures during a performance, at Gila Crossing Community School in Gila River Indian Community, Ariz., on Oct. 25, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
“This to me is one of the most consequential things I’ve ever had an opportunity to do in my whole career,” Biden said in his apology at an outdoor football and track field in Laveen Village, Arizona, near Phoenix. “It’s a sin on our soul. ... I formally apologize.”
Palm Springs police Lieutenant William Hutchinson speaks with Deborah Farley, 60, a homeless woman sitting in the shade of a bus stop in the desert city of Palm Springs, Calif, Aug. 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Blake
Palm Springs, Calif., long known as a desert playground for the rich and famous of Los Angeles, has enacted a number of progressive measures to address homelessness. Then in July, the all-Democratic city council passed a ban on sleeping on public property that will expand police authority to arrest the unhoused, underscoring how even liberal cities have lost patience as the homeless crisis persists.
Uniformed school children board school bus in Baton Rouge, La. Photo: Anne Rippy / Alamy via Reuters Connect
Lawmakers in 29 states have proposed at least 91 bills promoting religion in public schools this year, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, an advocacy group backing a lawsuit challenging Louisiana's law. Rachel Laser, its chief executive, said the group tracked 49 similar bills in 2023.
An image from Saint Philips Church (which is also known as the Baptist church and is part of Al-ahli Al-arabi Hospital) that was converted into a clinic to treat the injured in Gaza City. July 4, 2024. Via Reuters.
The Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East protested the closure of Al-Ahli Arab Anglican Hospital in Gaza City as a result of the evacuation of several residential districts ordered by the Israeli military.
Kimberly Morris holds up a notice a police officer gave her giving her 72 hours to move her tent from the park in Grants Pass, Ore., on April 18, 2024. REUTERS/Deborah Bloom/File Photo
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld on Friday anti-camping laws used by authorities in an Oregon city to stop homeless people from sleeping in public parks and public streets — a ruling that gives local and state governments a freer hand in confronting a national homelessness crisis.
Pope Francis attends the weekly general audience, in Saint Peter Square at the Vatican, May 22, 2024. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
Pope Francis, widely quoted as having used a highly derogatory word to describe the LGBTQ+ community, did not intend to use homophobic language and apologizes to anyone offended by it, the Vatican said on Tuesday.
Members of Sonke, a gender justice organisation, Mabel Ssengendo and Zaitun Nabateregga pose for a photograph at the Constitutional Court after the Court upheld the anti-LGBTQ+ Law in Kampala, Uganda on April 3, 2024. REUTERS/Abubaker Lubowa
Uganda’s constitutional court refused on Wednesday to annul or suspend an anti-LGBTQ+ law that includes the death penalty for certain same-sex acts, but voided some provisions that it said were inconsistent with certain fundamental human rights.
Clergy attend the Easter Mass at St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on March 31. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
“I appeal once again that access to humanitarian aid be ensured to Gaza, and call once more for the prompt release of the hostages seized on last Oct. 7 and for an immediate cease-fire in the Strip,” he said in his Urbi et Orbi address.
Palestinians walk on the day of the first Friday prayers during Ramadan near the ruins of a destroyed mosque, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, March 15, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Palestinians in Gaza held the first Friday prayers of Ramadan outside the ruins of a mosque leveled by Israel’s offensive, one of hundreds the Hamas-run authorities say have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks since October.
Mourners attend a vigil service at the Prairie Activity & Recreation Center for Wadea Al-Fayoume, 6, a Muslim boy who according to police was stabbed to death in an attack that targeted him and his mother for their religion and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas, in Plainfield, Illinois, Oct. 17, 2023. REUTERS/Jim Vondruska
Human rights advocates have cited a rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bias, and antisemitism in the U.S. and elsewhere.
A believer kneels during prayers at a Catholic church, in Accra, Ghana, Jan. 18, 2024. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko
In a country where religious leaders openly condemn homosexuality and gay sex is punishable with jail time, Ghanaian couple Kay and Naa Shika fear more for their lives and safety than whether a church will bless their same-sex union.