Ivan Dias, 68 years old, is the Cardinal of Bombay, India, my place of birth, and is considered 'papabile.' My Dad who works for Air India has flown with him to Rome and talked to him, being one of the Catholics on board the aircraft.
He is described as 'a friend of Mother Teresa' and has a few factors going for him. For instance, he has been a Vatican diplomat for 33 years in various parts of the world before coming to Mumbai in 1997 as the archbishop. He knows 17 languages, mostly European, and even speaks Korean. Above all, like Pope John Paul, he is orthodox, and is relatively young at 69 by Vatican standards.
Also since the Vatican is trying to reach out to the Muslim world, a pope from India which has a lot of Muslims living with the majority or Hindus and over 16.5 million Catholics, with a history of violence between Hindus and Muslims, and tensions with Muslim Pakistan and terrorism, I think he seems quite papabile indeed for the world today. Also I hear he's from my old Alter Mater too! St. Stanislaus.
Speculation is that the Vatican might pick someone from a third world, and an Indian is always a long shot, and the odds for him aren't that good, but what do you guys think?
Cardinal Ivan Dias for next Pope?
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