Originally posted on 02/12/2013:

There is not a chance of the next Pope elected hailing from Latin America or Africa. None whatsoever.

Ouellet of Quebec would be considered by the Cardinals as an innovative choice, but in reality he is a very conservative candidate for Pope. So he has a chance.

More likely it will be one of the Italian Cardinals, Scola being the frontrunner going into conclave because of his reputation for being a scholar of Islam.

The interesting thing about the Malachy prophecies: In the past, many papal candidates went out of their way to be linked to the next Malachy prediction. For example, Cardinal Ratzinger, who is not a Benedictine, chose the Papal name Benedict, in order to be linked to the Order and Saint Benedict. Supposedly the Benedictines are also known as Olivetans (although few Benedictines are Olivetans).

This was all done to connect Ratzinger to the Malachy prophecy for the 111th pope, "glory of the olive."

The next Pope will go out of his way NOT to be linked to the next and last Malachy prophecy, "Peter," which is associated with the destruction of Rome and the end of the world .