In the opinion of the priest, who has served on missions in several African countries in recent decades, the next Pope could well be Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, an idea he had already defended at the time of the conclave that elected Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who chose the papal name of Francis, in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan Order.
The possible election of an African Pope comes at a time when the "Church is moving geographically, no longer focused on Europe or North America", and is now more "Latin American, African and Asian" due to the increase in the number of believers in these regions, a trend that has become more pronounced over the last 12 years.
An African Pope would mean a lot to Africa, just as having Pope Francis meant to Latin America, because, in practice, this would be a "worldwide recognition of the role that the Catholic Church plays on the continent".
"I think it would be very good for the Church if the next Pope were either African or Asian, since we have just had a Latin American. That is my perspective", he stressed.
In his view, the Catholic Church in Africa now has a very large weight, in political, social, economic and cultural terms.
"I think that the Church in Africa, if it had an [African] Pope, could perhaps reduce the realities of poverty, injustice, violation of human rights, lack of democracy, etc", he declared.
Tony Neves, who spent several years in Angola and who, as general counselor, accompanies the Spiritan missionaries in Portuguese and Spanish-speaking countries and is responsible for communication in the congregation, said he knew all the African cardinals who will be present at the next Conclave relatively well, highlighting that there are three who, due to their profile, could be elected.
The first, he indicated, would be the Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, an experienced and capable man who can continue what "Pope Francis has launched".
"There are also two other cardinals who are also much talked about, possibly for other reasons, because they are less in line [with the Pope's] thinking and more in line with the traditional one, and here I refer to the cardinal of Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, who is the president of the Conference of Bishops of Africa and Madagascar, so someone who has a huge role in Africa, and who is therefore someone who could be considered papal candidate", he explained.
"And then we have the eternal cardinal [Robert] Sarah [of Guinea-Conakry], who would delight a very conservative wing of the Church, but who is always a name that appears, especially on social media. Despite the fact that in June he will turn 80 [the age limit for voting and being elected in the conclave]", he mentioned.
As he explained, Cardinal Ambongo is a kind of "middle ground" between the three African cardinals mentioned.
However, for example, on all issues related to homosexuality, this Democratic-Congolese cardinal marked a break with the Holy Father, on behalf of the bishops of Africa, whom he represented, and went to Rome to say that he did not accept the document "Fiducia Supplicans" that Pope Francis signed in the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published in 2023, which, among other things, opened up blessings to homosexual couples, the parish priest recalled.
However, if Tony Neves could choose anyone, the chosen one would be the archbishop of Bangui, in the Central African Republic, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, whom he describes as someone "extremely learned" and who "could be an excellent Pope".
Africa represents 20 percent of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, according to data from the Vatican statistics office.
