alternatehistory.com

...Pope Pius XIII's death in 1993 marked the end of the rule of Italian popes over the throne of St. Peter unbroken since the 16th century. The College of Cardinals, after fifteen years of a pope whose non-offensive and action-oriented philosophy, wanted a change of pace, feeling caught up in both the feeling that the Cold War was drawing to an end and also that the time had come for a non-Italian to wear the papal tiara for the first time in over 450 years.

The composition of the college had changed under Pius XIII in a more conservative direction, largely in a reaction to the liberalism of Pius' predecessor Paul VI and thus the only candidates who stood a chance were either theological moderates or conservatives. With no clear successor, the election took three days and it was only on the final ballot of the third day that a new pope was chosen and the election avoided having to be delayed for a day for reflection (much to the relief of the news media covering the conclave).



The Prefect of the Congregation of Faith Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was selected, a polar opposite to Pius. The church's enforcer of dogma and Vatican insider, Ratzinger, now called Benedict XVI, would be the face of the church into the new millennium, and become known as the pope who largely moved back from the reforms of Vatican II, leading the church in a more conservative direction as well as the pope who (fairly or not) was most associated with the break of the revelations of decades of sexual abuse by priests across the Catholic world....