Cardinal Matteo Zuppi and Cardinal Augusto Paolo Lojudice. / Francesco Pierantoni via Wikimedia (CC BY 2.0)/Pufui PcPifpef via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Rome Newsroom, Mar 29, 2022 / 03:45 am (CNA).There are four names in contention for the presidency of the Italian episcopal conference ahead of a vote in May.The bishops will gather that month to choose their new president. The top three names will be passed to Pope Francis. The pope is free to choose one of the names or to appoint another bishop entirely to the role. For this reason, rumors about who is in the running are based more on the pope s likely preferences than the indications of the country s bishops. So who are the four figures currently being mentioned?Cardinal Matteo Zuppi has always been considered a strong candidate. The archbishop of Bologna since 2015 and a cardinal since 2019, the 67-year-old is closely associated with the influential Community of Sant Egidio. Formerly a much-loved parish priest in Rome, Zuppi.
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