VATICAN CITY
If a man at the helm of the Roman Catholic Church is to succeed, he has to address the dire situation the Curia is in, a state of desperate need for reform in the administrative apparatus of the Holy See, a Vatican expert has said.
"There are many many problems but one particular issue is of utmost urgency, which is the need for reform in the Curia. A new pope will have to face this fact," Marco Tosatti, journalist and a Vatican observer from Italian daily La Stampa, told the Anadolu Agency.
Benedict XVI's unexpected abdication as pope last month left a church plagued by financial and sexual scandals, bureaucratic rivalry as well as by the Vatileaks scandal, the publication of secret Vatican documents, stolen from inside the Pope's private office.
Reform in the Curia is not the only challenge a new pope will have to tackle, according to Tosatti. He said other issue include relations with the Episcopal Conference, dialogue with Islam and responding to a weakening faith in the West.
Black smoke rose above the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday, which signalled that the first papal voting at the conclave failed to produce an agreement on a single nominee.
The 115 cardinals reconvened on Wednesday and that were set to hold four more rounds of voting on the second day of the conclave to elect a new leader from among a lengthy list of possible contenders that included Cardinal Marc Ouellet (68, Canada), Cardinal Peter Turkson (64, Ghana), Cardinal Francis Arinze (80, Kenya), Cardinal Angelo Scola (71, Italy), Cardinal Leonardo Sandri (69, Argentina), Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco (69, Italy) Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi (70, Italy), Odilo Scherer (63, Brazil), Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (78, Italy), and Cardinal Timothy Dolan (63, the US).
"For the first time in a long while, there are so many nominees in a conclave. And of course this is a richness," Tosatti said.
-A pope from Africa?-
The pool of papal candidates at least includes two cardinals from Africa -- Peter Turkson (Ghana) and Francis Arinze (Kenya) -- the continent where the Vatican has been most influential over the past years with the fastest growing number of Catholic converts.
African Catholics are also heartened by Emeritus pope's remarks during a visit to the continent in November 2011 when he described Africa as "the spiritual lungs of the world" that would awake the churches of the West.
If elected, Turkson or Arinze will be the first black pope, and the first African pope since the year 496.
The Catholic population in Sub-Saharan Africa constitutes 16 percent of world's Catholics but only 11 of the 115 cardinals who would elect a new pope are from the continent.
