Last April, the Vatican lost its leader, as Pope Francis passed away at the age of 88, following medical complications.
Following this terrible news for the Catholic Church, a new pope is to be named and Conclave have already begun.
133 cardinals are now isolated from the outside world, in the Sistine Chapel, until a new Pope is elected by the Conclave. It’s worth noting that the future Pope must obtain two-thirds of the votes to secure the post, so the struggle is sure to be interesting to follow.
While we await the results of this vote, a number of betting sites have joined in the suspense, as predictions have just been made as to the outcome of the election and yes… people are betting on the next pope.
According to estimates, Cardinal Pietro Parolin (Italy) is the favorite to become the new Pope with 27%, followed by Luis Antonio Tagle (Philippines) in second place with 22.3%. Matteo Zuppi (Italy) completes the top-3 with 10.9%. It’s clear, then, that there are only two serious candidates, according to the results of these predictions.
Although the whole thing is unpredictable, it’s worth pointing out that the betting sites in question correctly predicted the outcome of the American election last November, namely a Donald Trump victory over Kamala Harris.
That said, in 2013, when Francis was named Pope, he was not the favorite in the running for the post, while Cardinal Angelo Scola was once tipped to have the throne.
Betting on the Pope?
Now that’s not very Catholic..