Who are the contenders to succeed Pope Francis?

The College of Cardinals, the Church’s most senior officials, are gathered in Rome to choose the successor of Pope Francis.

While in theory any baptised Roman Catholic man can be elected pope, every pope since 1379 has been selected from within the Church’s cardinals.

Women are not allowed to become the pope, because they must also be ordained as a priest and bishop – roles which women are not allowed to hold.

During a process called the conclave, the cardinals gather inside the Sistine Chapel to cast their votes in secrecy from the modern world, until one candidate has two-thirds of the votes.

A plume of white smoke from the chapel’s chimney will signal when a decision has been made.

As speculation heats up on who will succeed Pope Francis, ITV News looks at some of the leading contenders.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle

Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who is among the front-runners, would become the first ever Asian pontiff if he is elected to succeed Francis.

He was appointed to the College of Cardinals by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, becoming the second youngest person and seventh Filipino to be made a cardinal.

Tagle has held a senior position in one of the Vatican’s most important departments, the Dicastery for Evangelisation, since 2022.

The 67-year-old is seen by some as representing the Church’s progressive wing, according to the Catholic Herald.

In 2015, he criticised the “harsh words” that were used to refer to LGBTQ+ people, unwed mothers, and divorced and separated people.

He said: “The harsh words that were used in the past to refer to gays and divorced and separated people, the unwed mothers, etc. in the past they were quite severe.

“Many people who belonged to those groups were branded, and that led to their isolation from the wider society. …But we are glad to see and hear shifts in that.”

He has also been involved in social issues in the Philippines, including defending the Catholic Church’s opposition to abortion and placing emphasis on helping the poor.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin

Pietro Parolin currently serves as the Vatican’s Secretary of State and is a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisors.

The 70-year-old was born in Italy and was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2014.

The Secretary of State is one of the oldest and most important roles in the Vatican, with responsibility for overseeing political and diplomatic events of the Vatican City State and the Holy See.

Parolin was appointed by Pope Francis to engage in talks with a variety of world leaders and groups, including Ukraine and the Taliban.

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi

Matteo Zuppi was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2019.

He became president of the Episcopal Conference of Italy in 2022, giving him oversight of the country’s bishops.

Alongside this, the 69-year-old has been the Archbishop of Bologna since 2015.

In 2023, Pope Francis appointed Zuppi as his special envoy to find a “path to peace” for the Ukraine war, according to Vatican News.

The cardinal travelled to Kyiv to meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later that year and also met former US President Joe Biden to deliver a letter from the pope.

At the end of 2024, Zuppi visited Moscow for three days to discuss “humanitarian collaboration,” the Holy See Press Office said.

Cardinal Robert Prevost

Given the geo-political power of the US already, an American pope has been something of a taboo, but Chicago-born Prevost could be the first.

The 69-year-old has extensive experience in Peru as a missionary and later as an Archbishop.

He is currently the Vatican’s prefect, overseeing the vetting of nominations from bishops around the world.

Francis appointed him to run the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014, a role he held until 2023, when he was brought to Rome.

Cardinal Robert Sarah

Robert Sarah, 79, from Guinea, was long considered the best hope for an African pope, but his decision to co-author a book with then-retired Pope Benedict in 2020 may have hurt his chances.

Beloved by conservatives, Sarah would signal a return to the doctrinaire and liturgically minded papacies of John Paul II and Benedict.

Sarah, who had previously headed the Vatican’s charity office Cor Unum, clashed on several occasions with Francis, none more seriously than when he and Benedict co-authored a book advocating the “necessity” of continued celibacy for Latin Rite priests.

The book came out as Francis was weighing whether to allow married priests in the Amazon to address a priest shortage there.

Sarah is one of three African Cardinals seen as potential candidates.

The others are Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, 76, and Fridolin Ambongo, a 65-year-old Cardinal from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Cardinal Peter Turkson with Pope Francis. / Credit: AP

Turkson, who has been a leading voice on climate change and poverty, whilst also upholding traditional views within the Church, such as stances against abortion and homosexuality.

Ambongo is best known for leading African bishops to reject a declaration from the Vatican that included guidelines on the blessings of same sex couples.

Cardinal Peter Erdő

Peter Erdő became the youngest member of the College of Cardinals when he was elected by Pope John Paul II in 2003, at the age of 51.

The Hungarian cardinal, who is now 72 years old, is the Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and Primate of Hungary.

He is known for his Marian devotion – a way of showing honour to the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus – and is seen as a conservative.

He opposes changes to marriage doctrine and has emphasised that a country’s obligation to accept immigrants has limits.

Pierbattista Pizzaballa

Pizzaballa was made cardinal by the pope just two years ago and, at 59, is one of the youngest frontrunners.

When Pope Francis made him cardinal, he became the first Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem to be raised to the cardinalate and the first cardinal to reside in the State of Israel.

He has devoted himself to the Middle East, facing several crises, including the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Last Christmas he celebrated mass at the Holy Family Church in Gaza.

After Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, Pizzaballa offered himself as a hostage in exchange for children who were being held by Hamas.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet

Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet led the Vatican’s influential bishops’ office for over a decade, overseeing the key clearinghouse for potential candidates to head dioceses around the world.

The 80-year-old is considered more conservative than Francis, but has a record of selecting pastorally minded bishops to reflect Francis’ belief that bishops should “smell like the sheep” of their flock.

Ouellet defended priestly celibacy for the Latin Rite church and upheld the ban on women’s ordination, but called for women to have a greater role in church governance.

Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn

Schoenborn, aged 80, recently resigned as Archbishop of Vienna and is now too old to vote in the conclave, but is still eligible for election.

He was a student of Pope Benedict’s, giving him some appeal to conservatives, but has since aligned himself with Pope Francis.

He became associated with one of Francis’ most controversial moves by defending the late pontiff’s outreach to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.

He also took heat from the Vatican when he criticised its past refusal to sanction high-ranking sexual abusers, including his predecessor as archbishop of Vienna.

Schoenborn has also expressed support for civil unions and women as deacons and was instrumental in editing the 1992 update of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the handbook of the church’s teaching.