His Eminence, Cardinal Thomas Mapother
I could see Cardinal Mapother of Cincinnati (or St Louis) as a rising star of the Church by our time.
Thomas Cruise Mapother joins the clergy in 1982 and serves well first in Cincinnati then as a 'Hammer of the Orthodoxy' working with Ratzinger on the need for maintaining the 'foundation' of Catholicism. Mapother becomes the first prominent voice among the younger generation of priests to expose abuse that Archbishop Pilarczyk works to hide for over a decade (this forced Pilarcyzk to hand in his resignation in OTL - 2009). Ratzinger works with Mapother, himself a survivor of child abuse, to root out the guilty. Simultaneously he works with Ratzinger on 'Diversity, not reintregration' of the Lutherans, Episcopalians, and more liberal Presbyterians. Because of the pressure involved with his cover-ups, Pilarcyzk resigns in 1999, Cruise succeeds as Archibishop in 1999 before turning 40.
His management of the Archbishopric allows for a 'new face for American Catholicism' and he writes three books about the need for balancing modern technology with traditional morality. He is also the first major official in the Catholic church to have a Facebook page and later a Twitter account. By 2008 Cruise is seen as the leading Catholic figure in North America and, with Ratzinger's favor, is made a Cardinal following concerns for Raymond Burke in Saint Louis. Cincinnati becomes one of two archdioceses in the world to have both an archbishopric and a cardinal as Mapother continues to lead services himself at least every other Sunday. With his interactions among lay Catholics allowing them to form a "Catholic Center" as a voting bloc he also becomes something of a power player in the Eastern US, especially in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. With the election of Francis I in Feburary 2013, the shocking revelation of Mapother's second-place finish means Europe and South America appear to like the idea of the young Cardinal with media savvy leading not only the Catholics of North American but also the world.