Time for a Third World Pope

I don't spend much time following the Pope election drama.

But the Farm Manager does.

I think she's secretly hoping for an openly gay Pope.

Or at least a non-Christian one.

She's a bit ahead of her time on both counts.

But I do believe that if the Church has the slightest sense of where the pulse of her followers is, those Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel are going to elect a guy either out of Africa or out of South America.

My money is on Africa.

That's a growth market for the Catholic Church. America and Europe are shrinking markets. They have to vote with an eye to the future.

For one thing, rampant sexual abuse of altar boys is just background noise in Africa, whereas in the West this issue has become the anthem of Catholicism.

And economically, Africa is rising while the West is sinking.

I know you don't see that yet when you peruse the front pages of our most esteemed news outlets, but it's early days.

The Church of Rome has the most comprehensive intelligence network in the world bar none.

They know which way the winds are blowing.

And they didn't become the wealthiest institution in the history of humanity by being stupid.