i know cardinal turkson. i consider him a friend. he s a lovely man. he s a good biblical scholar. he was a good pastor back in kenya. he has not fit well in rome. i think he would be the first person to tell you that. he doesn t really feel comfortable being manager of the sort he s had to be in the roman curia, and i think the buzz about him is a reflection of his winsome personality, but he would not be candidly, in my top ten. he s a wonderful human being, but this job now is going to require someone to undertake some serious reform of the vatican bureaucracy, and i m not sure he ll be regarded as the man likeliest to do that. if we take a look at the makeup of the conclave itself. more than 50% of the cardinals are from europe. just a majority of those are from italy alone.
how much will geography play in the choosing of the next pope. i don t think a lot, except there is an awfully large anti-italian current running in rome right now. i think the feeling is that the curia, the vatican bureaucracy has been re-italianized dramatically over the past seven years, that this has not worked out very well. the church recently semiembraced a candidate, former prime minister monti who got 9% of the vote. so there s a sense that this is not an italian moment and in that sense, nationality might play a role. this is a very interesting, difficult, challenging moment in the life of the church and i don t think what passport a man is carrying will have a whole lot to do with whether he s considered a possible
president says maybe that will boomerang and we ll get another deal. just one final, the mainstay of obamas has been and will be to travel around the country and blame republicans for the impasse. it didn t work this time, lynn. when will it work the next time? when people start feeling the pain. good to see you. enjoyed it so much. we ll do it again in a few minutes. all eyes are on that sink hole in florida that swallowed a man and his bedroom. neighbors are being told to stay back as the sink hole threatens to swallow the house next door now. we ll go live to florida for the latest on that. march madness vatican style. the handicapping is well under way over who will be the next pope. we ll talk to our own expert about the favorites and the underdogs. stay with us. [ mom ] with my little girl, every food is finger food.
i would be remiss if i didn t ask you that what do you think the chances are that you walk into the sistine chapel as cardinal and coming out as pope. as about a-rod for taking third place for the new york yankes. sports metaphors are not too far off when it comes to picking a new pope. there is a sweet sistine bracket under way. that sweet sistine bracket trying to predict who will be the next catholic leader. talk about march madness. meanwhile, the world waits to find out when the conclave to choose the next pope will even begin. an announcement is expected to come monday, that is when the cardinals will meet in their first general congregation. joining me live now, george weigel, nbc news vatican analyst
speculation right now. you ve said that you re starting to hear some names bandied about there in vatican city. cardinal angelo scola, archbishop of milan. cardinal angelo bagnasco, and former archbishop of quebec, what makes these cardinals the subject of papal buzz. walk us through here? i think these three men are the subject of buzz because they each bring a relevant body of experien experience. scola and leonard are distinguished scholars and they ve led educational institutions and they re men of real intellect intellectall, an