Pope Francis’ emphasis on reaching out to the “peripheries” of the Catholic Church and world will result in the most diverse collection of church leaders in history gathering to select the new pope. 

According to Mary FioRito, an expert on papal elections and a senior fellow at the Catholic Association, this could very well result in the next pope having a very different set of priorities than the late pontiff. 

Francis has selected about 80% of the 135 church leaders – called cardinals – who will vote for the next pope in the upcoming papal conclave.

The result will be that instead of being dominated by European or even Western cardinals, the conclave will have large contingents from regions like Africa and Asia.

Cardinals of the Catholic Church attend the election conclave in the Sistine Chapel on April 18, 2005 at the Vatican. (Arturo Mari, Vatican Pool)

“I wouldn’t phrase it in terms of issues, as if we’re talking about the economy or migration. We’re looking at individual men and asking ourselves, who can serve the church best at this moment and who is the person best equipped to take on this international role?” she said.

“The holy father’s role is to be a center of unity for the church in preaching the message and the gospel,” FioRito went on. “So, it’s looking at individual people, their strengths, their weaknesses, their backgrounds, what limitations they might have. And then really, in a very prayerful way, asking, what does the church need now in a new pope?”

“My sense of it,” she went on, “I think the cardinals need to be looking at the church today globally and not just in their own backyards, but globally and saying, ‘Who is the man who can best take the church forward into this new era?'”