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Heart and Soul: Into Choppy Waters

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Pope Benedict XVI

08/03/2013 GMT

Into Choppy Waters

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Into Choppy Waters

Allan Little chairs a special Papal edition from St Peters Square.

Allan Little chairs a special Papal edition of Heart and Soul from St Peters Square.

Cardinals from around the world have gathered in Rome to choose the next man to lead the Catholic Church. The circumstances are unique in modern times, the former Pope looms over the decision they will make as the Pope Emeritus. The problems he has handed on to his successor are depressingly familiar though; trust, women’s role in the church and falling attendances in the countries the Catholic church could normally rely on. 

To mark the election of the new Pope, a Heart and Soul special from Rome will look ahead to how the future of the church will look, the shifting dynamics globally of the church and the possibility that a new Pope could come from Africa or Latin America. This is a critical moment for global Catholicism. How will the new Pope shape a church with so many challenges ahead? 

Allan Little is joined from Rome by Father Mariano Perez Gonzalez who belongs to the Comboni Missionaries and has spent over fifteen years working in South Africa. Austen Ivereigh is the director of Catholic Voices,and acted as press secretary to Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor at the last conclave in 2005. Catalina Ecchevarria who is a high school teacher from Mexico. Dr Martha Heizer the Chair of International Movement We Are Church and Thomas Reese, Theologian and analyst for National Catholic Reporter.

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