What do Catholics in Lebanon and around the world hope for from new pope?
Among the roughly 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, many are keenly anticipating the upcoming Vatican conclave at which members of the College of Cardinals will elect a successor to Pope Francis. At a grocery shop in Beirut, a university in the United States, a Black township in South Africa and other far-flung locations, The Associated Press asked nine of them what they hope to see from a new pope.
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Bernard Anka, 65, a grocer and Maronite Catholic in Lebanon
Anka says he's concerned that Christians worldwide are moving away from the church and hopes the new pope strives to bring them back to the fold.
The owner of a grocery shop in Beirut, Anka worries that many young people in Lebanon and elsewhere are straying from the church as smartphones open a wider world to them.
"The church is very weak in the face of what we are living through," he said.
Christians make up a third of Lebanon's population of 6 million, the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East. The country is coming out of the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war that left over 4,000 dead.
"The work of the new pope should be to bring back the happiness, confidence and internal peace," Anka said. "Christians used to go and face life without fear."
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Nadia Makuc, 20, a junior at Princeton University in New Jersey
Makuc goes to Mass daily at the campus chapel. At a recent service, she joined other young Catholics in a prayer for the cardinals voting in the conclave.
"I'm hoping that we have a leader who can just really share the Christian message of mercy and forgiveness, as well as joy and hope," she said after the service, where a photo of Francis was displayed. "That's something Pope Francis was really good about — spreading the joy and hope found in Christ's resurrection."
She also hopes the next pope will fight for the protection of life from conception to natural death.
The new pope should be "someone who's really able to be a witness to the culture of life," said Makuc, co-president of the Aquinas Institute, the university's Catholic campus ministry.
"As a young American, there's a real want for guidance. ... We kind of look at the political system of America and neither party feels like a home to Catholics," she said. "As we face such a political division, a pope who can bring peace and unity is what's most important."
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Alicler Medina, 35, a Venezuelan journalist living in Argentina
Medina said Francis sought to bring youth closer to the church, and his successor should be, even more so, "the pope of the young."
"I expect the same from the new pope: that he calls young people together, that he brings them closer to God, because I feel we live in a society that has lost many of its values; and that he brings them closer to their families, that he reminds them of their principles. … Now we see animal abuse, family abuse, bullying."
The next pontiff, he added, should "have the openness of Francis but the love that John Paul II expressed."
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Mercyline Bunoro, 64, a mother of 7 in Nairobi, Kenya
Buboiro has been a Catholic since birth. She hopes the next pope will continue to embrace everyone regardless of their background and sexual orientation.
Human rights groups in Kenya have expressed concerns about discrimination against LGBTQ+ people. But Bunoro says "being gay is God's wish" and they shouldn't be spurned by the church.
The mother of seven lives in a Nairobi slum, earning a living through menial work such as washing clothes and cleaning.
Bunoro says more cardinals should be appointed from Africa so the continent has more say in Vatican leadership decisions.
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Christoph Rudinger, 49, an educator from Linz, Austria
Rudinger, who teaches at the university of education of the Diocese of Linz in Austria, was in Berlin to prepare a field trip for his students.
Sitting outside St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin's historic center, Rudinger said his paramount hope for the next pope is to have an open mind.
"I expect the pope to have open arms, to have open hands for the concerns of the people who approach him, regardless of whether they're Catholic or not," he said.
He hopes the next pope will tackle difficult issues, such as the role of women in the church and whether they can become priests.
For many Austrian Catholics, he said, it's important the pope hear their concerns about a priest shortage in their region and the possible abolition of celibacy as a requirement for ordination.
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Beatrice Rakoma, 64, a pensioner in Johannesburg, South Africa
Rakoma lives in Alexandra, a mostly Black township in Johannesburg, and is president of the Catholic Women's League of Alexandra. She spoke to the AP at a memorial service for Pope Francis at a Catholic church in Soweto last week, when she wore a dress adorned with his image.
Rakoma said she would celebrate if the new pope is the first ever from sub-Saharan Africa. But more important, she said, is that he continue with Pope Francis' message of encouraging unity among the world's people.
"It's not about color, race or gender," Rakoma said. "Whichever pope will be elected, it has to be about the glory of God, not about being whichever cultural, race or gender background you come from."
"The new pope must take over from Pope Francis, lead the way, and walk in his footsteps."
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Carlo Caniglia, 60, a civil servant from Mantova, Italy
Caniglia said he's not a frequent churchgoer in his hometown of Mantova but goes for baptisms, weddings or funerals, plus Easter and Christmas services.
"If the Catholic Church wants to survive in this fast-changing world, it needs to change and the pope needs to lead that way," said Caniglia, adding that the new pope must address issues such as gender equality in the church and discrimination against gays and lesbians.
"Pope Francis did a good job regarding those topics and I want the next pope to continue that way," said Caniglia, who spoke to the AP while visiting Berlin with his wife. He thinks it would be nice if the next pope did not come from Europe, but perhaps from Asia or Africa.
"I know many Catholics would have a problem with a Black pope but I don't think it's a problem at all," he said.
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Marlen Onal, 58, church volunteer from Quezon, Philippines
In Asia's largest Catholic nation, long plagued by poverty and inequality, Onal longs for a successor to Francis, who, like him, would reach out to society's margins.
Francis' embrace of the poor, sick and neglected refocused global attention on their plight and prompted many clergy to venture beyond church confines and emulate his example, Onal said.
"Hopefully the successor will be like him or somebody who can do even more," Onal said. "The next pope should be truly pro-poor, open-minded to all the issues in the world like poverty and the LGBTQ issue."
Onal serves as a volunteer leader for a church in the Manila region led by a locally prominent priest and human rights activist, the Rev. Robert Reyes. Onal and other volunteers have helped Reyes hold street Masses and Bible-reading sessions in slum neighborhoods.
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Santiago Dijkstra, 36, a systems engineer in Buenos Aires
Dijkstra said he hopes the next pope "maintains the same culture" as his predecessor, Francis, "instead of going back 80 years and once again punish people who think differently or are different from what the Church believes."
He said the new leader of the Catholic Church should strive to be inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community, as the late Argentine pontiff did.
He also said he hoped for a pope with Francis' simpleness, that would advocate for a more accessible Church, free of "internal corruption."
"With the money the Vatican has, poverty would be easily resolved, and I don't see them using that money to help."
Source: Associated Press
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