Pope Tagle? Don’t count on it, but…

WHEN Pope Benedict XVI announced earlier this week that he was resigning, one of the first thoughts that entered the typical Filipino Catholic’s mind was, can our Cardinal Tagle possibly be the next in line?

It’s a fascinating thought, no doubt. And the good news is that our young archbishop of Manila who has only been a prince of the church for a few weeks has been mentioned as a possible successor to Pope Benedict.

But we shouldn’t set our hopes up too high. For one, the good Pinoy cardinal is young. In fact, he is way too young to have more than an outside chance of getting the vote of his fellow cardinals when they convene at the Sistine Chapel next month to choose the next head of the Roman Catholic Church.

The present pope is German, and his unforgettable predecessor —Pope John Paul II—was Polish.

Before that, the papacy seemed to be the exclusive domain of the Italians. This is not surprising since the seat of the Church, The Vatican, is located inside Rome.

As a global organization, the Church is a little bit like a multinational corporation. The gents at the headquarters call the shots. The cardinals are also akin to an old boys club. They know each other, and are likely to see Cardinal Tagle as an outsider trying to find his way in.

The situation is not totally hopeless though.

We are now in the 21st century and the outgoing Pope Benedict has shown that the Church must embrace change. Why else would he set up a Twitter account and learn how to use a tablet not too long ago?

It is not known if Benedict will have a say in who should take his place. If he did, it would not be surprising to hear him tell the cardinals to take a good look at the young man from the Philippines.

Cardinal Tagle would make a good pope for several reasons. For one, his youth would mean that he will be the Vicar of Christ for decades, and not just years.

For another, Cardinal Tagle has a charming personality and a winning smile. He could conceivably convince many non-Catholics to consider joining the mother church, especially the young.

If by some stroke of fate he were to make it, the next ques- tion would be, what would he name himself?

Since his full name is Luis Antonio Tagle, could he opt to keep his baptismal name and call himself Pope Luis Antonio I?

Luis Antonio are Hispanic names and would be a break from the Westernized names of most— if not all—past popes. Benedict, John Paul, Paul and John are the names of the popes of recent vintage, so why not Luis Antonio?

It does have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Pope Luis Antonio the First.

While the chances of the Filipino being chosen as next head of the Church are slim, it’s still better than none. So let’s all be a bit superstitious and keep our fingers crossed. Or, we could bombard heaven with our prayers. That’s been known to work.