

Their favourite, 71-year-old Italian, Dionigi Tettamanzi, cardinal-archbishop of Milan at 5-2. The cardinal is known as an intellectual and prolific writer who helped Pope John Paul II write some of his encyclicals. The Little Lombard, as he's popularly known, has many admirers in Italy.


Second, Nigeria's Francis Arinze at 11-4. Arinze, 72, has handled the Vatican's relations with Islam for almost 20 years. If elected he would be the first African pope in more than 1,500 years.



