Jesuit Father Norman Tanner, dean of church history at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, told reporters March 11 that the papal candidates from all over the world reveal the globalization of the church while the “preoccupation with the personality of popes” can often be unhealthy in choosing a new pontiff.

The first clue to the identity of the new pope will be the announcement of his first name — in Latin, in the accusative case … below this article is an alphabetical list of the cardinal electors’ first names in Latin, in the accusative case, which you can follow when its the announcement of the name of the new pope.

Though the Vatican has become increasingly savvy with more modern forms of communication, it’s still sticking with more primitive methods — swirling smoke and tolling bells — to announce whether a new pope has been elected.

Istanbul’s grandiose Sultan Ahmet Mosque, or the Blue Mosque, was only one of the places former Pope Benedict XVI visited while in Turkey nearly seven years ago, but it is the stop that many practicing Muslims remember most, said Etyemez, who was living and studying in Los Angeles at the time.

A mob of thousands attacked a Christian area in Lahore, Pakistan, last week citing alleged blasphemy against Muhammed. Others say ‘blasphemy’ was only a pretense to the religion-based attack.

Hugo Chavez, a socialist president who transformed Venezuela while acting as chief protagonist in what was one of the worst Catholic Church-government relationships in Latin America, died March 5. He was 58.

Like the rest of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, including the 5,100 bishops and 412,000 priests, the pope exercises what the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls his “baptismal priesthood” by participating in “Christ’s mission as priest, prophet and king.”

An African or Asian pope would send an important message to the world and help promote the Gospel to those outside the church, said the national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI took those who were interested more deeply into the Gospel of Life, writes Anna Krohn

If Jesus had wanted a church free of scandal or problems, he would have put it in the hands of angels, not a humanity he loved, said Nigeria’s newest cardinal elector.