alternatehistory.com

...Benedict XVI's sudden death of a heart attack in early 2011 brought about a brief period of reflection on the legacy of the late controversial pope, who had for years been dogged by the Church's child abuse scandals across various nations. News media figures who days earlier had condemned the pope for the church's failures regarding their handling of abusive priests seriously began to review Benedict's theological legacy and the moves he had made in a more conservative direction.

The run-up to choose Benedict's successor only two things were known: the new pope would not be from Germany (Benedict's home country) or Italy. The College of Cardinals, despite many of them having been appointed by the conservative Benedict, were slowly realizing that the Church's power base had shifted away from Europe, and for the first time, began to seriously look at candidates from the Americas and Africa. The conservative bent of the Church insured that the new pope would also be a conservative, and several ballots went by before one candidate finally was elected.



Archbishop Odilo Scherer of São Paulo, who had only been a cardinal for five years, became the first pope from the New World upon his election. Taking the name Leo XIV, the new pope signaled that he wished to move the Church back into a central role in modern life and continue the evangelizing mission his predecessor Pius XIII had adopted. Only 61 when he was raised to the papacy, Leo XIV seems to have a long papacy ahead of him to place his stamp on the Church...