An African Pope Won't Change the Vatican's Views on Condoms and AIDS

Since Pope Benedict XVI did what had previously been unthinkable and almost unprecedented on February 11—submitting his resignation with what amounted to little more than a two-week notice—there has been speculation that the Catholic Church could see a non-European pope. "It's highly possible," New York City's Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan told the New York Times last week.

Much of the initial focus was on Latin America because the region "represents 42 percent of the world's 1.2 billion-strong Catholic population, the largest single block in the Church," as Reuters reported on the day of Benedict's announcement. "Two senior Vatican officials recently dropped surprisingly clear hints about possible successors. The upshot of their remarks is that the next pope could well be from Latin America."

Source: Here