美国有超过6100万天主教徒和仅次于意大利的第二多的红衣主教，这是一个美国教皇是否有可能在2004年后的问题教皇方济各之死星期一。
弗朗西斯是来自阿根廷的耶稣会士，在担任罗马天主教会领袖12年后，于周一凌晨去世，享年88岁，他是近1300年来第一位非欧洲教皇。
请在美国东部时间周二晚上10点收听ABC新闻特别节目“方济各:人民的教皇”周三还可以在Hulu和Disney+上播放。
根据梵蒂冈的说法，美国有17名红衣主教，其中10名有资格投票选举下一任教皇。拥有最多红衣主教的国家是意大利，共有51名，其中17名有资格投票选举下一任教皇，根据梵蒂冈的说法.
根据最近的统计，美国有6190万天主教徒，约占总人口的19%美国宗教人口普查由美国宗教团体统计学家协会在2020年进行。
尽管美国是世界上天主教人口最多的国家之一，但一些专家告诉ABC新闻，下一任教皇来自美国的可能性很小。
安妮·巴雷特·多伊尔(Anne Barrett Doyle)是BishopAccountability.org的联合主任，该组织是一个跟踪全球天主教会神职人员虐待儿童案件的监督组织，她告诉美国广播公司新闻，如果一名美国人当选为教皇，可能会被认为是“压倒性的”，因为美国已经在全球占据主导地位。
巴雷特·多伊尔说:“如果天主教堂也由一个美国人来管理，美国在全球的主导地位将是无处不在和势不可挡的。”
根据梵蒂冈的说法，从技术上讲，任何在天主教堂受洗的人都可以成为教皇。但是教皇通常是从红衣主教团中选出的。只有80岁以下的红衣主教才被允许参与选举教皇。
福特汉姆大学宗教学教授克里斯蒂娜·特雷纳告诉美国广播公司新闻，几名美国红衣主教被认为是方济各的可能继任者。
“我认为这不太可能，因为美国教会目前被认为是有争议的，”特雷纳谈到美国人被选为下一任教皇的前景时说。“所以，我认为他们更有可能选择欧洲人，或者来自南半球或亚洲的人。”
然而，自2017年以来担任新泽西州纽瓦克大主教的枢机主教约瑟夫·托宾(Cardinal Joseph Tobin)表示，特雷纳已经成为一个可能的候选人。
据报道，在教皇本笃十六世于2012年任命托宾为印第安纳波利斯大主教后，73岁的托宾于2016年被教皇方济各任命为枢机主教团成员他的传记在新泽西天主教会议网站上。
根据他的传记，托宾以前在天主教会担任过几个职位，包括芝加哥圣阿方斯教区的牧师，罗马社区的总顾问和罗马救赎主的高级将军。
在周一发布的关于教皇方济各去世的声明中，托宾说，“他是一个有着深刻信仰、深刻谦逊和不可动摇的希望的人——一个不知疲倦地呼吁关心穷人和被边缘化的人的仆人，将继续激励未来几代人的教会。”
另一位被认为可能接替方济各的美国红衣主教是红衣主教罗伯特·普雷沃斯特。这位69岁的芝加哥出生的普雷沃斯特是唯一一位被列入教皇候选人名单的美国红衣主教，这份名单在方济各去世后编制，也被称为“papabiles”美联社报道.
根据他在梵蒂冈新闻办公室网站上的个人资料，自2023年以来，普雷沃斯特一直担任梵蒂冈主教区的区长，负责审查世界各地的主教提名。弗朗西斯在2014年首次任命普雷沃斯特担任秘鲁奇克拉约主教后，将他带到梵蒂冈工作。普雷沃斯特也是拉丁美洲教皇委员会的主席。
Miles Pattenden博士是天主教历史学家，也是英国牛津大学的历史讲师，他也告诉ABC新闻，这一次美国教皇的前景是“非常不可能的”。
帕滕登指出，教皇方济各与特朗普政府有冲突的历史——可以追溯到特朗普的第一个任期，当时他批评美墨边境墙的修建，称“一个考虑修建隔离墙的人，不管他们可能在哪里，而不是修建桥梁，都不是基督徒。”
在一个公开信今年2月，教皇方济各向美国天主教主教表示，唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)总统政府下令的大规模驱逐镇压是一场“重大危机”
帕滕登说:“传统上，人们对来自英语圈的教皇有很多戒心。”。“我不认为当前的情况会改变这一点，尤其是在梵蒂冈和特朗普政府之间关系紧张的情况下。”
特朗普周一表示，他和第一夫人梅兰妮·特朗普计划前往罗马参加教皇方济各的葬礼。
特朗普在白宫说:“我刚刚签署了一项行政命令，将我们国家的旗帜，所有联邦旗帜和州旗降半旗，向教皇方济各致敬。”“所以，他是个好人。努力了。他——他热爱这个世界。”
Could an American pope be waiting in the wings? Experts weigh in
With more than 61 million Catholics and the second-highest number of cardinals after Italy, the United States is primed for the question of whether an American pontiff is possible in the wake ofPope Francis' deathon Monday.
Francis, a Jesuit from Argentina who died in the early hours of Monday at age 88, after 12 years as leader of the Roman Catholic Church, was the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years.
Tune into ABC at 10 p.m. ET on Tuesday for the ABC News special, "Francis: The People's Pope." Also available to stream on Hulu and Disney+ on Wednesday.
The United States has 17 cardinals, 10 of whom are eligible to vote in the election of the next pope, according to the Vatican. The country with the most cardinals is Italy, which has 51, including 17 eligible to vote for the next pontiff,according to the Vatican.
The United States has 61.9 million Catholics, representing about 19% of the total population, according to the most recentU.S. Religion Censusconducted in 2020 by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.
Even though the U.S. has one of the largest Catholic populations in the world, some experts told ABC News that the likelihood of the next pontiff coming from America is a long shot.
Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a watchdog group that tracks clergy child abuse cases in the Catholic Church worldwide, told ABC News that if an American were selected as pope, it could be perceived as "overwhelming," given the United States' global dominance already.
"If the Catholic Church were also run by an American, the global dominance of the U.S. would be simply pervasive and overwhelming," said Barrett Doyle.
Technically, any man baptized in the Catholic Church can become pope, according to the Vatican. But popes are typically chosen from the College of Cardinals. Only cardinals under the age of 80 are allowed to participate in electing a pope.
Cristina Traina, a religious studies professor at Fordham University, told ABC News that several U.S. cardinals have been floated as possible successors to Francis.
"I think it’s unlikely because the American church is seen as contentious at this moment," Traina said of the prospect of an American being chosen as the next pope. "So, I think they are much more likely to go either for a European or someone from the global south or Asia."
Traina, however, said Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey since 2017, has emerged as a possible candidate.
The 73-year-old Tobin was named by Pope Francis to the College of Cardinals in 2016 to serve as the Archbishop of Indianapolis, after Pope Benedict XVI appointed him in 2012, according tohis biographyon the New Jersey Catholic Conference website.
Tobin previously served in several positions in the Catholic Church, including pastor of St. Alphonsus Parish in Chicago and General Consultor of the Community of Rome and Superior General of Redemptorists in Rome, according to his biography.
In a statement released Monday on the passing of Pope Francis, Tobin said, "He was a man of deep faith, profound humility, unshakable hope -- a servant whose tireless call to care for the poor and marginalized will continue to inspire the Church for generations to come."
Another American cardinal who has been mentioned as a possible successor to Francis is Cardinal Robert Prevost. The 69-year-old Chicago-born Prevost was the only U.S. cardinal included on a shot list of front-runners for pope, also known as "papabiles," compiled in the aftermath of Francis' deathby the Associated Press.
Since 2023, Prevost has held the position at the Vatican as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, in charge of vetting nominations for bishops around the world, according to his profile on the Vatican Press Office website. Francis brought Prevost to work at the Vatican after first appointing him in 2014 to serve as the bishop of Chiclayo, Peru. Prevost is also president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
Dr. Miles Pattenden, a historian of the Catholic Church and a lecturer of history at Oxford University in England, also told ABC News that the prospect of an American pope this time around is "very unlikely."
Pattenden noted that Pope Francis had a history of clashing with the Trump administration -- going back to Trump's first term in office, when he criticized building of U.S.-Mexico border wall, saying, "A person who thinks about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian."
In apublic letterto U.S. Catholic bishops in February, Pope Francis described the mass deportation crackdown ordered by President Donald Trump's administration as a "major crisis."
"There has traditionally been a lot of wariness about a pope from the Anglosphere," Pattenden said. "I shouldn’t think that the current circumstances change that, especially now with the tensions between the Vatican and the Trump administration."
Trump said on Monday that he and first lady Melania Trump plan to travel to Rome to attend Pope Francis' funeral.
"I just signed an executive order putting the flags of our country, all of them, all federal flags, and state flags, at half-mast in honor of Pope Francis," Trump said at the White House. "So, he was a good man. Worked hard. He -- he loved the world."
