A look at the possible candidates who might succeed Pope Francis

CARDINAL JUAN JOSE OMELLA

The archbishop of Barcelona is a man after Pope Francis’ own heart. Unassuming and good-natured, he lives a humble life despite his lofty title, dedicating his Church career to pastoral care, promoting social justice and embodying a compassionate and inclusive vision of Catholicism.

“We must not see reality only through the eyes of those who have the most, but also through the eyes of the poor,” he told the Crux news site in April 2022, in words reflecting Pope Francis’ world vision.

He was born in 1946 in the village of Cretas in northeastern Spain. After being ordained in 1970, he served as a priest in a number of Spanish parishes and also spent a year as a missionary in Zaire, now called the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Underscoring his dedication to social causes, he worked closely with Spain’s Manos Unidas charity from 1999 to 2015, which tackles famine, disease and poverty in the developing world.

He became a bishop in 1996 and was promoted to archbishop of Barcelona in 2015. Just one year later, Pope Francis gave him a red cardinal’s hat – a move seen as a clear endorsement of Omella’s progressive tendencies, which stand in contrast to more conservative elements that once dominated the Spanish Church.

Omella, 79, is a former president of Spain’s bishops’ conference. He had to deal with the fallout from an independent commission in 2023 that estimated that more than 200,000 minors may have been sexually abused by Spanish clergy for decades.

Omella has repeatedly asked for forgiveness for the mismanagement of sexual abuse, but has denied that so many children were abused, with an internal Church investigation identifying just 927 victims since the 1940s. 

“At the end of the day, numbers do not get us anywhere. The important thing is the people and to make amends as far as possible,” he said.

“Blaming is not the way. The problem does not belong to the Church, it belongs to society as a whole.” 

In 2023, Pope Francis invited Omella to join his nine-member kitchen cabinet of cardinals to advise him on questions of governance.

If the conclave decides the Church needs a new approach, then this proximity will count against Omella.