While Filipino prelate, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, is seen as the leading candidate to succeed Pope Francis – should the Pontiff follow the precedent set by his predecessor, Benedict XVI, and announce his resignation in the near-future – head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore, Cardinal William Goh, is emerging as another papabile from Asia (southeast Asia, no less) and one who could reach conservatives perhaps better than Tagle, considered the “Asian Francis”. Just four days younger than the Filipino, Goh became the first ever cardinal from Singapore after he was appointed on August 27. 

The Pope’s selection of Goh is clearly seen as an endorsement, and confirms the increasingly international flavour of the College of Cardinals, while Goh – ordained a priest in 1985 and appointed Archbishop in 2013 – is seen as less overtly liberal than Tagle. That said, Goh has spoken about the Pope’s teachings on compassion and inclusivity, including for those in same-sex relationships and divorcees. Confirming his moderate credentials however, while Goh has voiced opposition to repealing a penal code which criminalised sex between men, he has also opposed the criminal persecution of gay people. 

Cardinal Goh has vowed to promote the model of Singapore’s religious harmony in Asia, according to UCA News, which could indicate a different approach towards China than Pope Francis’s. A commemorative booklet, That They May Live, has outlined Cardinal Goh’s pastoral view: Faith in Asia, Aid to the Poorest and the Least, Climate Action and a New Way of Inter-religious Dialogue for Human Fraternity. In an interview with Vatican News, Goh said affluence can lead to even more of a quest for God. He added that “Cardinals that come from different continents and countries will be able to share with the Holy Father the situation in the different countries”. 

When speaking about the Church in Asia, as well as Africa, Goh has referenced the Pope’s emphasis on “inclusivity [when considering] the question of the universal Church.” Moreover, he said: “If the Church is ready to be universal, I think it must be more proportionately represented by the different continents and countries, so that the Church can be truly called the Catholic Church.” However, again, in what could indicate a different approach to China, Goh has said “in other countries, unfortunately, a lot of, you can say, subtle or sometimes, even obvious, oppression of religions, especially of the Christian faith, the Catholic faith.”

So, alongside Tagle, is Goh seriously now papabile, pointing to a growing Asian influence within the Church? Lawrence Chong, a Singaporean consultor at the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, recently told Yahoo Philippines that the Pope has an affinity for Asia, while pointing to the “disproportionate” number of cardinals from southeast Asian countries. He said: “I think some form of Asianization is going on. The contribution of the Asian factor is growing. If you will look at the College of Cardinals, the 226, now Asia is a quite significant bloc.” 

When it comes to an Asian pontiff, however, Chong warned that the “big, influential” voting blocs are still in the Americas and Europe. That said, the College is an obviously less European affair now. Today, 40 per cent of voting members will be European, a drop of 12 per cent since 2013, according to Jeff Diamant at the Pew Research Center. The percentage of North Americans has also fallen over the same period from 12 to 11 per cent, while the Pope’s appointments have increased representation from the Asia-Pacific from 9 per cent in 2013 to 17 per cent in 2022, and from sub-Saharan Africa, from 9 per cent to 12 per cent over the same period. 

Of the newly appointed or currently eligible voting cardinals which Pope Francis has named, 34 per cent are from Europe while 22 per cent from the Asia-Pacific. While Europeans and North Americans are still overrepresented in the College of Cardinals (24 per cent of all Catholics live in Europe and 8 per cent in North America), after recent appointments this is also true for Asia-Pacific Catholics (who represent 12 per cent of all Catholics). Latin American and Caribbean Catholics, and Sub-Saharan African Catholics, are still however underrepresented. 

While Tagle is seen as a leading candidate to succeed the Pope – and has the advantage of being able to reach a global Catholic audience – this is also true of Goh, who is also an Anglophone, is almost exactly the same age as Tagle, but – in addition – is not perhaps as tied to Pope Francis’s legacy. Goh would be seen as less of a pure continuity candidate than Tagle, and perhaps therefore more able to reach conservatives. In this sense, he is more like Hungarian prelate, Cardinal Péter Erdő. However, as a non-European, Goh may be seen as more representative of an increasingly global Church than Erdő. Goh has many of the advantages of Tagle, without some of the perceived drawbacks, even though the Filipino has immense experience and is hugely popular. Another southeast Asian prelate, a Singaporean pope is now a distinct possibility, with Goh helping to put Asian Catholicism on the map.

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