Media names three most likely successors to Pope Francis

English-language media named three cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church as the most likely successors to Pope Francis. This was reported by TASS.

According to a study by the Cribrum company, commissioned by the TASS Analytical Center, these are Italians Pietro Parolin and Matteo Zuppi, as well as Filipino Louis Tagle. It is reported that the number of mentions of Parolin in the media is three times greater than Tagle and Zuppi. The preferences are distributed in approximately the same way in social networks conducted in English.

From April 21 to 28, more than 16.5 thousand publications in 1,214 publications with a potential audience of 352 million people were recorded and analyzed, as well as more than 60 thousand posts in social media from 29.4 thousand authors. They were read by more than 134 million people.

According to the Holy See Seal Service, the conclave in the Vatican to elect a new Pope will convene on May 7. The College of Cardinals has 252 hierarchs, of which 135 who have the right to vote will take part in the conclave. These include cardinals under 80 years of age, and each of them can be considered a potential contender for the papal throne. The conclave is taking place in the Sistine Chapel. Four votes are held every day. To elect, two-thirds of the votes must be received. The election of a new primate of the Roman Catholic Church is announced by white smoke from a chimney, which is clearly visible from St. Peter's Square.

On April 26, the 266th Pope Francis, who had occupied the throne of St. Peter since 2013, was buried. He died on April 21 at the age of 88, the day after Easter, which Catholics and Orthodox celebrated together for the first time in 11 years. On April 20, Francis blessed the faithful on the occasion of Easter. The next morning, he died of a stroke that arose against the background of chronic diseases and caused a coma and cardiac arrest.