Which papal candidate offers the best hope for Catholic/Orthodox reunion?

[nxylas]

As one of the Orthodox members of this group, this is of interest to me in the debate over Pope Benedict's successor. I have to admit, I know very little about the senior figures in the Roman Catholic church, and I was wondering if any of the Catholic (or indeed Orthodox) members of this group had any thoughts on the matter.

[rug]

1. There are four Eastern Rite Cardinals eligible.

http://www.gcatholic.com/churches/cardinal/008.htm

I suspect they would be in the best position to heal the rift. Unfortunately, none of them are being talked about as likely candidates.

Of the remaining Cardinals, I think Schonbrun of Vienna is probably best equipped to address this ancient tragedy.

[47of74]

2. I don't think that list has it quite right

There's a few problems with that list. Namely that's just the list of Eastern-rite Cardinal-Patriarchs. Nasrallah Sfeir is on that list, but at 92 he wouldn't even be in the conclave. Emmanuel-Karim Delly is also over 80 so he wouldn't go in either. The other two on that list would be eligible. Moran Mor Baselios Cardinal Cleemis is an Eastern Rite Cardinal but he wasn't even on the list. At 53 he's the youngest Cardinal overall so that would probably work against him if the Cardinals don't want someone else with a 30 year reign.