The New York Times reported Sunday that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has emerged as the candidate with the strongest support to be elected pope.
"Cardinal Ratzinger, a German close to John Paul II, has up to 50 votes among the 115 elector cardinals, or at least that is the strength his supporters claim," the paper said.
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Ratzinger would need two-thirds of the College of Cardinals to be elected, or 77 votes. With such a large block of votes already under his red cap, he plays the role as either front-runner or kingmaker.
Ratzinger, who has been described as the "right-hand man of the pope," is known as a doctrinal conservative who would seek to maintain Catholic orthodoxy within the Church and confront the West's growing secularism without.
The paper noted that the candidate opposing Ratzinger is far from liberal.
"The top candidate of the forces opposing the Ratzinger bloc appears to be Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan, who could also have a chance of peeling off a few votes from the Ratzinger camp."
The paper said Tettamanzi, a "conservative moral theologian who has written on bioethics, ... collaborated with John Paul on the encyclical laying out the justifications for opposing abortion, birth control and euthanasia."
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