Who could succeed Pope Francis? We look at 10 possibilities, both LGBTQ-friendly and not

The potential successors to Pope Francis

Update: Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of the U.S. has been selected as the new pope, choosing the name Pope Leo XIV.

Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church will meet beginning Wednesday in a papal conclave at the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel to elect the successor to Pope Francis as the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. One hundred thirty-three cardinals are expected to participate, and slightly more than 100 are electors, as only those under 80 can vote. A two-thirds majority of electors is required to select the new pope. Here’s a look at 10 cardinals who’ve been mentioned as likely contenders, including possibilities for the first modern-day African or Asian pope and the first U.S. pope, although the majority of popes have been European and most of those Italian. Pope John Paul II, from Poland, was the first non-Italian pope in more than 400 years, and Francis, from Argentina, was the first pope from Latin America. These potential popes range from LGBTQ-friendly, continuing the work of Francis, to deeply anti-LGBTQ+.

Scroll on for more details on their records.

Pietro Parolin, Italy

Cardinal Pietro Parolin is secretary of state at the Vatican, meaning he has essentially been Francis’s deputy pope. He and Francis both met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance shortly before Francis’s death. Parolin is mostly conservative when it comes to LGBTQ+ issues. He decried so-called gender ideology — really, the recognition of transgender identity — during a United Nations speech in 2024. He has criticized marriage equality, denouncing the Republic of Ireland’s 2015 popular vote in favor of it as “a defeat for humanity.” In 2024, he said the debate within the Catholic Church about blessings for same-sex couples — which Pope Francis approved, although he said these blessings should not resemble weddings — was a normal part of church life, like any debate. In 2023, he sent a letter to German Catholic leaders, who hoped to liberalize church teaching about homosexuality and the role of women, saying no such change was acceptable (Francis had also raised concerns about any change). In a 2019 meeting with international lawyers, Parolin declined to criticize conversion therapy or the criminalization of homosexuality, and Pope Francis did not remark on the topics afterward, as he had been expected to do, but the pope did speak out against criminalization in 2023. Parolin had a rare LGBTQ-supportive moment in a book published in 2023, in which he said gay priests should not be linked to the church’s sexual abuse crisis. “Homosexual orientation cannot be considered as either cause or aspect typical of the abuser,” he wrote. However, Parolin has recently been accused of mishandling sexual abuse cases.

Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle, Philippines

Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle is the former archbishop of Manila, Philippines; about 80 percent of the nation’s population is Catholic. He now holds a high-ranking position at the Vatican, overseeing missionary efforts. He is the leading papal candidate from Asia and would be the first Asian pope in modern times; there were a few popes from western Asia — the Middle East — in the earliest years of the church. “Widely known by his nickname ‘Chito,’ he is often called the ‘Asian Francis’ for his ability to connect with the poor, his call for action against climate change and his criticism of the ‘harsh’ stance adopted by Catholic clerics toward gay people, divorced people and unwed mothers,” The New York Timesreports. In an interview with Catholic outlet Crux in 2015, he echoed Francis’s “Who am I to judge?” line about gay priests. He has some critics, who say he did not speak out strongly enough against clerical abuse (and he, like Parolin, has been accused of mishandling these accusations) or the so-called drug war conducted by Rodrigo Duterte when he was president of the Philippines. In the drug war, many people who were simply suspects were killed by vigilantes. Duterte, who left office three years ago, has been accused of crimes against humanity and now faces a trial before the International Criminal Court.

Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, Democratic Republic of Congo

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, archbishop of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is one of the top candidates to be the first African pope in more than 1,500 years. He opposes blessings for same-sex couples. As president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, he led a statement responding to Francis’s approval of the blessings, saying, “We, the African bishops, do not consider it appropriate for Africa to bless homosexual unions or same-sex couples because, in our context, this would cause confusion and would be in direct contradiction to the cultural ethos of African communities,” according to the National Catholic Reporter. The church decreed that the blessings should not resemble marriage ceremonies and that the blessings were for the individuals, not the relationship, but the statement said the language “remains too subtle for simple people to understand.” He also has called same-sex unions “intrinsically evil.” For everyone except LGBTQ+ people, “he has been a strong defender of democracy and human rights, unafraid to stand up to warlords and corruption,” CNN reports. Additionally, he has endorsed religious pluralism. “Let Protestants be Protestants and Muslims be Muslims,” he said in 2020. “We are going to work with them. But everyone has to keep their own identity.”

Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, Ghana

Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, who is chancellor of two religious academies, is another possibility for the first modern African pope. He appears to be more LGBTQ-friendly than Besungu. “In a BBC interview in 2023, while Ghana’s parliament was discussing a bill imposing harsh penalties on LGBTQ+ people, Turkson said he felt homosexuality should not be treated as an offence,” the British outlet reports. Legislators did pass the bill, calling for prison sentences of up to three years in prison for people identifying as LGBTQ+ and up to five years for individuals forming or funding LGBTQ+ groups, but it did not receive presidential approval, so it did not become law. Turkson was the first cardinal from Ghana. He plays guitar and once performed in a funk band.

Matteo Zuppi, Italy

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the archbishop of Bologna, is much like Francis in his outreach to LGBTQ+ people. He supported Francis “at every controversial turn during his papacy, from the decision in 2015 to open a cautious door to communion for Catholics who divorce and remarry outside the church — Zuppi called it a blow for ‘closeness’ to people doing their best — to the 2024 authorization of blessings for people in same-sex unions, which he said placed the church ‘on the horizon of mercy,’” Crux reports. He also wrote the foreword to the Italian edition of Father James Martin’s 2017 book Building a Bridge, which explores how the church and LGBTQ+ Catholics can find common ground. Zuppi has a record of being a peace-seeker around the world. Francis appointed him to lead a peace mission to Ukraine in 2023, and the cardinal was part of a group that helped negotiate an end to the civil war in Mozambique in 1992. Zuppi is “arguably as close to a potential ‘Pope Francis II’ as one will find among the plausible contenders,” according to Crux.

Pablo Virgilio Siongco David, Philippines

Cardinal Pablo Virgilio Siongco David, archbishop of Kalookan in the Philippines, is known as an advocate for social justice and inclusivity, much like Pope Francis. In 2020, David wrote a statement supporting Francis’s endorsement of civil unions (but not marriage) for same-sex couples. “He is not out to destroy our morals and orthodoxy,” David said of Pope Francis. “He just wants to do as Jesus himself did. He valued being kind and compassionate more than being right and righteous.” The previous year, as president of the bishops’ conference in his nation, he had endorsed a bill to ban anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, but legislators did not pass it. He is an admirer of Pope Francis, who encouraged the Catholic Church to be “a church that is accountable, a church that is transparent, a church that is open to evaluation, a church that is humbler and more inclusive, a church that is welcoming, a church that does not declare that the Eucharist is an exclusive meal for the righteous and the deserving,” David told America, a Jesuit magazine, in January; he had been elevated to cardinal just the previous month. The Jesuits are a Catholic religious order, formally called the Society of Jesus, known for scholarship and progressive views; Francis was the first Jesuit pope, and David is Jesuit-trained. He was very outspoken against Rodrigo Duterte’s supposed war on drugs, which resulted in thousands of extrajudicial executions, when Duterte was president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. David received death threats for his activism. He is also an advocate for environmentalism.

Joseph Tobin, USA

Cardinal Joseph Tobin, archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, is known for his outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics, for whom he has held special masses. He endorsed Father James Martin’sBuilding a Bridge and in 2021 signed on to a statement with eight other American Catholic bishops in support of queer youth. “All people of goodwill should help, support, and defend LGBT youth; who attempt suicide at much higher rates than their straight counterparts; who are often homeless because of families who reject them; who are rejected, bullied and harassed; and who are the target of violent acts at alarming rates,” says the statement, a joint effort of the clergy members and the Tyler Clementi Foundation. Speaking directly to young LGBTQ+ people, it adds, “God created you, God loves you and God is on your side.” He has been outspoken against sexism in the church, and he ran afoul of Francis’s immediate predecessor, the conservative Pope Benedict XVI, because of it. In 2012, Benedict removed Tobin from a high-ranking position at the Vatican and sent him back to the U.S. to become archbishop of Indianapolis. There, Tobin continued his advocacy for the marginalized, once bucking then-Gov. Mike Pence’s ban on resettling Syrian refugees in Indiana. He became archbishop of Newark in 2016. He has consistently supported migrants and the poor, and he traveled to more than 70 countries in overseeing missionary efforts as the head of the Redemptorist order from 1997 to 2009.

Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi, Japan

Cardinal Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi, archbishop of Tokyo, is supportive of LGBTQ+ people, having contributed to a 2023 book of essays titled LGBT and Christianity, which was edited by a gay United Church of Christ minister. “In addition, the Tokyo archdiocese supports and promotes the LGBT Catholic Japan group, including its monthly Masses,” notes New Ways Ministry, a U.S. group that advocates for LGBTQ+ equality in the Catholic Church. On other issues, he has urged Japan’s government to support a ban on nuclear weapons. Japan is the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack during wartime — the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 to end World War II. Kikuchio has worked around the world; he has done missionary work in Ghana and helped people fleeing Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. He is president of the executive board of Caritas, the international Catholic charitable organization.

Raymond Burke, USA

In contrast to Tobin, two other potential American popes, Cardinals Raymond Burke and Timothy Dolan, are intensely anti-LGBTQ+. Burke was bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin, from 1995 to 2004, then archbishop of St. Louis for several years until he was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to head the church’s highest court. Pope Francis removed Burke from that position in 2014, and in 2023, with Burke by then retired, Francis revoked his salary and his right to a subsidized apartment in the Vatican. Shortly before that, Burke and four other cardinals signed on to a document questioning Francis’s stances on LGBTQ+ people and women priests. Among Burke’s many anti-LGBTQ+ statements: In 2013, he said the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act would “lead to death for individuals and eventually it will destroy our culture.” The following year, he denounced a Vatican document that said there can be positive aspects to same-sex relationships and that the church should be more welcoming to LGBTQ+ people. In 2015, he blamed gay priests and what he called a “feminized” Catholic Church for the widespread sexual abuse of children by clergy members. In March 2020, as many churches began holding services remotely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said faithful Catholics should attend Mass in person to fight changes in the culture, including recognition of transgender identity. Burke, a vaccine skeptic, later contracted COVID and had to be on a ventilator. Burke has also praised Donald Trump — and Trump has praised him.

Timothy Dolan, USA

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, also has a long and strong anti-LGBTQ+ record. In 2011, he opposed the marriage equality bill proposed in his state; it passed anyway. (In fairness, it should be noted that Pope Francis, when he was Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, opposed a bill to establish marriage equality in Argentina — and it passed too. It’s been reported that he tried to persuade other Catholic leaders in the country to support civil unions as an alternative, and he endorsed civil unions as pope — something Dolan remained uncomfortable with.) Unlike Francis, Dolan has done little to endear himself to LGBTQ+ people. In 2011, he also wrote to President Barack Obama criticizing Obama’s decision not to defend DOMA in court and plan to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Dolan said these moves would “escalate the threat to marriage and imperil the religious freedom of those who promote and defend marriage.” Later that year, after New York passed the marriage equality bill, he said he wanted to help other states fight similar legislation. In 2013, Dolan downplayed the significance of Pope Francis’s famous “Who am I to judge?” remark about gay priests and suggested the church merely has an image problem, saying on Meet the Press, “We’ve been caricatured as being antigay.” In 2018, he appeared flummoxed by Francis’s reported remarks to a gay man that “God made you like this and loves you like this.” Dolan said the man deserves God’s love, like everyone else, but he questioned whether people are born gay. Then last year, he was outraged that the funeral for transgender activist Cecilia Gentili was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. The leaders at St. Patrick’s said they were duped into allowing the service, and Dolan ordered them to hold a Mass of Reparation to make up for this supposedly sacrilegious event. And this year, Dolan was among the anti-LGBTQ+ clergy members praying at Donald Trump’s inauguration.