The post Pope Francis Filled the College of Cardinals With a Diverse Group of Men – and They’ll Be Picking His Successor appeared first on Katie Couric Media. An Italian cardinal once tainted by a secret deal with China over the appointment of Catholic bishops has emerged as the favourite to be elected pope.

As members of the College of Cardinals prepare for the conclave, they face a profound choice: Build on the late pope’s reforms and vision, or slow things down and make a course correction.

The Catholic has ushered in a new era following the election of a new pope, Pope Leo XIV, who was announced to the world from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica.

Catholic cardinals will sequester themselves Wednesday behind the Vatican’s medieval walls for the start of a conclave to elect the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, a successor to Pope Francis who died in April at the age of 88.