Religion: After Paul: The Leading Contenders

The Romans have a word for it: papabili — the "possible Popes." In other times and other conclaves, they were at most a handful of men who, because of their holiness or wisdom or political savvy — or some fortuitous combination of such qualities — were deemed worthy of election as Pope. The conclave to choose a successor to Pope Paul VI, however, will be like no other before it. The number of Cardinal-electors, for one thing, is far greater than in any previous conclave, nearly twice the number who voted in 1963 in...