If you start seeing pictures of the man at the right or hearing his name now and then, here’s why.

On the international Godbeat, it’s never too early to start speculating about who will become the next pope. The current head of the world’s largest church, Pope Benedict, is admirably fit at 82, but facts like that never discourage avid Vatican watchers. “Vaticanistas” look beyond the present pope to find who else stands out in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Who’s on his way up? Who’s taking on important jobs? Who’s out there publishing books or giving lectures or visiting other cardinals or doing anything else that looks like — perish the thought! – a subtle campaign in an unofficial race whose candidates never throw their birettas into the ring.

(Photo: Cardinal Turkson, 13 April 2005/Max Rossi)

It looks like Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana is now firmly in this group known as the papabili, or possible popes, thanks to an important job he’s doing this month. He’s the relator, or secretary general, of the Synod for Africa, a major meeting of African bishops in Rome to discuss the Church’s future on that continent.  Previous cardinals who served in such posts include the future popes John Paul II and Benedict. Like another African cardinal once tipped for the job, Nigeria’s Francis Arinze (now 77 and retired), he counts among his plus points an on-the-job familiarity with Islam. John Allen, the veteran vaticanista for the U.S.-based National Catholic Reporter, headlined his story on Turkson “Say hello to Africa’s next great hope to be pope.”

Coming after the first non-Italian pope in centuries, it was unlikely that the 2005 conclave would take another daring leap and choose a non-European. The next papal election, whenever it comes, could be different. The received wisdom after the last one was that the Latin Americans had the best chance.

But you never know what the coming years will bring. Catholicism is growing in Africa, in contrast to Latin America.  One of Latin America’s best candidates, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, is a player in the current political crisis in his native Honduras and his prospects could depend on how that develops. And you have to wonder if the example of a precedent concerning a world figure outside the Church — the first African-American president, Barack Obama — could exert an indirect influence.  Some Catholics may read that and fire off a comment saying politics has absolutely nothing to do with papal elections. Not directly as in the past, but cardinals don’t all live in Sistine Chapel-like isolation from the rest of the world either. Turkson has strong credentials, as do other papabili, and the advantage of personifying some additional quality — hope? equality? change in continuity? –  could well work in his favour.

(Photo: Cardinals file into Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope, 18 April 2005/Osservatore Romano)

P.S. — For what it’s worth, the Dublin-based bookmaker Paddy Power still has Arinze topping its betting list with odds on who will be the next pope. Turkson is nowhere among the 44 names mentioned (including Bono in last place). Paddy Power took the 2005 conclave so seriously that it sent a man out to Rome to keep up with  the buzz. Will Turkson’s name appear on this list after the Synod for Africa is finished?

UPDATE: At a meeting with journalists in Rome on Monday, Cardinal Turkson was asked about this speculation, Catholic News Service reports. “An African pope? Why not?” he asked. “If by divine providence — because the church belongs to God — God would wish to see a black man as pope, then thanks be to God,” he said.

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For a journalist writing about the Vatican, whenever the pope names new cardinals, the eternal question returns — what’s the lead of the story? Who is the most important new member of the College of Cardinals , the elite “club” of men who advise the pope and who — if they are under 80 — can enter a conclave to elect his successor.

It’s less of a problem if you’re writing for a national newspaper or a specific audience. If your news organisation is American, you can lead off with the Americans. If it’s Italian, you shine the spotlight on the Italians. If you’re French, you glorify the French, and so it goes.

Writing for an international news organisation like Reuters has always posed some difficulties with such stories.

So, when Pope Benedict named 23 new cardinals on Wednesday, the quandary was there again. After the short urgent stories merely reporting that the cardinals had been named — a sort of numbers game — we decided to give the story a global flair, but at the same time shine light on the appointment of Emmanuel III Delly, an Iraqi who is Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans.

Although he has just turned 80 and so would not be able to enter a conclave, the honour given to Delly by raising him to the elite ranks of the Church appeared to be a gesture by the pope to support the Christian minority in Iraq and the Middle East. Benedict has often lamented the dwindling number of Christians in the Middle East and has supported efforts to improve their lot in a state of war. Delly has frequently warned that the Middle East, the birthplace of Christianity, could soon be emptied of its Christians because so many were emigrating to escape the violence there.

Also interesting — and surprising — was the naming of Archbishop Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston in Texas. As some observers such as John Allen of the U.S.-based National Catholic Reporter pointed out, the appointment seemed to be a recognition that the Catholic population in the United States has been shifting from the East to the Southwest, reflecting changes in immigration patterns and the growing Hispanic population.

The other American to get the red hat was Archbishop John Foley, one of the most well-known figures in Rome. Foley is perhaps one of the most media-friendly people in the Vatican. For many years he headed the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and was a godsend to many visiting journalists. Foley, a Philadelphian who once worked as a journalist himself, explained the “mysteries” of the Vatican to many who came to Rome for brief assignments, such as to cover the death of John Paul and Benedict’s own election in 2005. Foley’s name was mentioned often as a candidate for the red hat in the past but for some reason he was always passed over. He reacted to his nomination this way in an interview with Vatican Radio.