Who

	Cardinal Francis Arinze The son of a Nigerian tribal chief, Arinze, 72, converted to Catholicism when he was 9. He has spent the past 20 years in Rome, first as president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and currently as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship. He has been instrumental in the Vatican's dialogue with Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists. His theological positions range from moderate to conservative, and he has attracted attention for his blunt comments. In a commencement address at Georgetown University in May 2003, Arinze said the family is under siege around the world, "scorned and banalized by pornography, desecrated by fornication and adultery, mocked by homosexuality, sabotaged by irregular unions and cut in two by divorce." He was elevated to cardinal by John Paul II in May 1985
	Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio A Jesuit and the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio, 68, is one of the few cardinals whose background is not in philosophy or theology. He trained as a chemist before deciding to become a priest. Ordained in December 1969, he was elected the Jesuit provincial for Argentina in 1973 and held the position for many years. Bergoglio is today close to the Comunione e Liberazione movement. Bergoglio is known for simplicity and humility. In Argentina, for example, he takes public transportation rather than a chauffer-driven limousine. He was elevated to cardinal in February 2001.
	Cardinal Godfried Danneels Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, Belgium, Danneels, 71, is a potential papal successor with a strong personal vision. At the European Synod of 1999, despite pessimistic talk of a "continental apostasy" in Europe, Danneels said there is much of value in contemporary Western culture. At the 2001 consistory, Danneels said bluntly that the Church must become more collegial. He also is open to appointing women to run curial agencies but he is not a doctrinal radical. In early 2000, he suspended the Rev. Rudi Borremans, a Belgian priest who announced he was homosexual and then celebrated a Mass in violation of Danneels' orders. Danneels was ordained at 24 and became a cardinal in February 1983. He also is a former professor of liturgy at the Catholic University of Louvain and served as bishop of Antwerp.
	Cardinal Ivan Dias The archbishop of Mumbai, Dias, 68, served in the Vatican diplomatic corps, including postings in Ghana, Togo, Benin, Albania, Scandinavia, Indonesia and Madagascar. He speaks at least a little of 16 languages, and he knows global politics as few cardinals do. He is also a rare theological conservative among Indian bishops, known for a more moderate stance. In a Vatican address in November 2003, he praised a priest who counseled women who had abortions to give their unborn child a name so they could anticipate "meeting their baby one day" in heaven. He also referred to homosexuality as a disease of the soul, and said he prayed for such people to be "cured of their unnatural tendencies." He was appointed archbishop in November 1996 and elevated to cardinal in February 2001.
	Cardinal Claudio Hummes Hummes, 70, is the archbishop of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and a member of the Franciscan order. Born in southern Brazil to German parents, as a young bishop, he had a reputation as a progressive, opposing Brazil's military regime and backing worker strikes. Hummes also allowed famous Brazilian leftist Luiz Iná£©o Lula da Silva, now the country's president, to make political speeches during Masses. Under John Paul II, Hummes moved somewhat to the right, adopting a more traditional theological stance and distancing himself from political action. In July 2000, when a Brazilian priest suggested that condoms could be justified to fight AIDS, Hummes threatened disciplinary action. Yet he defends the Movimento dos Sem Terra (landless movement), arguing that people should be encouraged to organize themselves to defend their rights. He was elevated to cardinal in February 2001.
	Cardinal Walter Kasper Kasper, 71, is one of the few prelates recognized outside the College of Cardinals as a serious theologian. He served as dean of the theological faculty in M? and later in T?n in Germany. Doctrinally, he would be in the Reform Party camp on many issues. In 1993, as a diocesan bishop in Rottenburg-Stuttgart, he joined then-Bishop Karl Lehmann of Mainz and another German prelate in issuing a pastoral letter encouraging divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to return to the sacraments. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger rejected the letter. In 1999 he moved to Rome to take over as secretary, and eventually president, of the Vatican's ecumenical affairs office. He was elevated to cardinal in February 2001.
	Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger Once the archbishop of Munich and for many years prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Ratzinger, 77, is one of the most powerful men in the Vatican and is widely acknowledged as a leading theologian. Ratzinger has served for 20 years as John Paul II's chief theological adviser. As a young priest he was on the progressive side of theological debates but shifted to the right after the student revolutions of 1968. In the Vatican, he has been the driving force behind crackdowns on liberation theology, religious pluralism, challenges to traditional moral teachings on issues such as homosexuality, and dissent on such issues as women's ordination. The dean of the College of Cardinals since November 2002, he was elevated to cardinal by Pope Paul VI in June 1977.
	Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera has served as archbishop of Mexico, one of the most complex archdioceses in the world, since 1995. Rivera Carrera, 62, is a traditionalist on doctrine and liturgy, and like many other Latin American churchmen, he is a strong advocate of social justice. His criticism of globalization and political corruption so annoyed Mexico's Salinas government that it threatened to adopt a law forbidding priests from commenting on politics. A conservative on virtually all church matters, in 1990, he closed a seminary that he charged was teaching "Marxism" under the guise of liberation theology. Carrera was ordained at 24 and was elevated to cardinal in February 1998.
	Cardinal Camillo Ruini Another possible Italian candidate, Ruini, 73, is vicar general of the Rome diocese and president of the Italian bishops' conference. A one-time theology teacher, he is conservative and close to the pope, and may prove to be a compromise candidate upon whom most cardinals can agree. He was ordained a priest in 1954 and has served as auxiliary bishop of Rome. He was elevated to cardinal in June 1991.
	Cardinal Christoph Sch?rn An Austrian and one of the youngest cardinals, Sch?rn's relative youth -- he is 60 -- makes him a long shot. Sch?rn is of noble heritage, and some 19 members of his family have over the centuries been archbishops, bishops or priests. He speaks several languages fluently, including French, Italian and English, in addition to German. His heritage also might help him hold his own alongside other world figures, an important quality for a potential pope. He was elevated to cardinal in February 1998.
	Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi Considered the most likely Italian candidate to succeed John Paul II, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi is considered a conservative moral theologian. The archbishop of Milan, Tettamanzi, 70, is moderate-to-conservative on theological issues and is rumored to have worked on John Paul's encyclical, "Evangelium Vitae." He is close to the conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei and published an article in 1998 praising Opus Dei founder José aria Escrivá ¤e Balaguer. However, he also backed some of the antiglobalization protests at the July 2001 G-8 Summit in Genoa, giving a speech to a meeting of thousands of young Catholics in which he said that "a single African child sick with AIDS counts more than the entire universe." Ordained at 23, he spent 32 years teaching future priests and running seminaries in Milan and Rome. He was elevated to cardinal in February 1998.