Pope Benedict XVI is about to resign on Feb. 28 of this year. A  papal conclave is about to happen in Vatican during the first week of  March. A Filipino archbishop- Cardinal Tagle is among the papal  contenders. Many church analysts say that there's a possibility that a  non-European might get elected as Pope Benedict XVI's successor. But  given the fact that the Roman Catholic Church has always stood firm on  long-held traditions, we might see another European becoming pope this  year.

Roman Catholicism has long been planted in Latin America,  Africa and Asia, but no pope has ever been chosen from the said regions.  We still have to see an African becoming a pope. The Philippines is a  predominantly Roman Catholic country, and Filipinos today do want to see  a Filipino archbishop becoming a pope. Unless a change happens in the  way a papal conclave elects a pope, the hope for a non-European becoming  a pope is quite impossible to happen. But miracles do happen in this  world of ours.

I wish that Pope Benedict XVI's successor would be open to  ideas that will further promote gender and racial equality among the  members of the Roman Catholic clergy. I hope Pope Benedict XVI's  successor will make celibacy optional among priests and nuns. We're  living in a global village where humans are supposed to respect, secure  and uphold each other's human rights and civil liberties. Pope Benedict  XVI's successor should see the necessity of deleting outdated traditions  in order to further promote the respect of human rights and  civil`liberties among human beings.