Tagle one of cardinals eyed to become next pope, says report

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle with Pope Francis during the pontiff’s visit to the Philippines in 2015. Tagle was then still the archbishop of Manila. (File photo by EDWIN BACASMAS / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, a former archbishop of Manila, is one of two leading choices to be the next pope, according to a Catholic Herald report that was posted on its website on Aug. 5.

The other one is Hungarian Cardinal Péter Erdő, the archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest.

The report came out amid speculations that Pope Francis, who has lately had difficulty walking due to a strained knee, was nearing retirement.

The report also said that the pope also favored Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the current Vatican secretary of state.

Pope Francis recently appointed Tagle as one of 22 members of Vatican City’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments, which is headed by Cardinal-designate Arthur Roche.

In 2019, Tagle was appointed as the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. That put him closer to the pope, according to Henrietta de Villa, a former Philippine ambassador to the Vatican.

According to the Catholic Herald, whoever becomes the pope will greatly shape the Vatican’s future direction — Tagle representing the more liberal route, while Erdő poised to lead it to a more conservative path.

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