A Pope from Toronto? Sizing up conclave politics

Cardinal Thomas Collins
ROME – Cardinal Thomas Collins laughs with Canadian reporters outside his church in Rome, San Patrizio on Sunday, March 10. Collins is one of three Canadian cardinals who will enter the conclave Tuesday at the Vatican to select a new pope. (DAVID AKIN/QMI Agency)

The Maple Leafs, Rob Ford and – the Pope?

Don’t look now, but the city Canadians love to hate has an outside chance to be the hometown of the Holy Father to the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

Granted, Toronto Cardinal Thomas Collins, 66, is a long-shot to win the two-thirds majority of his 115 fellow cardinals when they enter the conclave here Tuesday to begin the process to select a successor to Benedict XVI. But he has attracted some notice among the international press here who have him in the second-tier group of potential popes.

As for the man himself, he’s just happy to be a witness to one of the most historic papal elections ever. Continue reading A Pope from Toronto? Sizing up conclave politics