In Search of a Pope
Atlantic Monthly has an excellent article in its September issue titled "In Search of a Pope" by Paul Elie. Only a snippet of it is available on the magazine's Web site. See here.
He mentions several "candidates" for the next pope. He also does a great analysis of the current pope.
Here's an excerpt:
"Where the experts expected the papal role to diminish, John Paul has surprised them by taking it to the people. John Paul has made his entire pontificate a pilgrimage -- one full of implications for the pilgrimage of the ordinary believer.
"Through his trips he has made clear that the whole world -- not just a certain 108 acres within Rome -- is pilgrim territory. In recent years, by carrying on in public even though he is physically diminished, he has acted out the central Christian belief that it is in suffering embraced in faith that redemption is to be sought."
