In their words: hopes for a pontiff

As the conclave to elect a successor to John Paul II convenes tomorrow, Roman Catholics around the world are wondering whether the next pontiff will take the church in a new direction. Over the past week, six of them described their hopes and expectations in interviews with Globe reporters:

Boston
Brother John Maganzini, 57
Vicar and spiritual director at St. Anthony Shrine

'My wish . . . is that the one who is elected holds those same values -- of healing, uniting.'

When we look at ourselves as a place in downtown Boston in the day-to-day, I think what you see is people coming to reconcile their lives, put their lives back together, to heal. Many broken people, broken in all kinds of ways, come back to find a place of welcome, a place of healing, a place where they can just come and find acceptance.

So my wish for the larger church, as this conclave gathers this coming week, is that the one who is elected [pope] holds those same values -- of healing, uniting, bringing back -- in an often-broken church today. Part of it has been the whole [clergy sex abuse] scandal. I myself am working with some of the victims. They come here mainly because it is a place of healing. And they really desire to be the church. Because the church isn't buildings or institutions, really. It's each person.

There are certain traits that make us Franciscan people, and one is to see everyone as an icon of God. To behold God in other people. Another thing [St. Francis] emphasized was an Italian word, ''cortesia," which would be courtesy. To see the dignity of each person and to treat people with dignity. That's a big one in this place, in this shrine. And you'd love to see that in the larger church.

Another of them was washing feet, which meant serving. I think that's what Jesus taught, and Francis was strong on that. We serve one another. And combine all that with one of the greatest things, joy. . . . If you put all that together, that would make such a wonderful pope.

La Paz, Bolivia
Zoraida Torrico, 33
Housewife and mother

'I think the time has come for us to have a Latin American pope.'

In Latin America, we have almost half the Catholics in the world, and I think the time has come for us to have a Latin American pope. If he were Latin American, this region would have more opportunities -- especially small countries like Bolivia -- for the pope to visit and give guidance to all the believers who need to be united by an inspirational force.

I think the new pope should modernize the church in several ways. First, I think priests should be allowed to marry. . . . I also think good Catholics should be allowed to use condoms so there aren't so many accidental pregnancies and unwanted babies.

As for divorce, I think that should be allowed so people aren't forced to live a lie. There are couples who are happy when they marry, but later, there may be betrayal, infidelity, or abuse, and they stay together just for the sake of the children and because the church says they must. That's wrong, and the church should allow people who have been deceived to separate with dignity.

I don't think the new pope should go so far as to let women enter the priesthood. I don't think women are capable of being priests; we're not as strong as men. The pope, and priests who work in difficult places, see so much poverty and suffering, war and disease, and I don't think the average woman could handle that. Mother Teresa was an exception.

I'd like the new pope to be open and available to everyone, and I hope he won't come from either the conservative or liberal currents in the Vatican, but rather be a moderate so he can cooperate and be heard by both sides. I hope the new pope will be relatively young, so he'll have plenty of years to travel and get to know all corners of the world and help people. But I think the truth is that no one will be able to reach the heights of our last pope -- he did everything he could for peace.

Chicago
Frank J. Spula, 53
National secretary, Polish National Alliance

'You can't touch people by sitting in your ivory tower.'

You don't act as king. John Paul never did, and this next pope shouldn't disregard the opinions of others. Sometimes the decisions have to be made by others.

You have to investigate, and then you make your decision. Because you can't be jaded, when you have beliefs that are embedded into your thinking process, with the changing of society.

There's more acceptability now, and this pope needs to build on that. . . . There's more acceptance of the gay community -- there have been gays in the church, as in any church, always -- and the roles of women today are very different. People fear things, but it's an educational process. . . .

I'm sure that with the new pope, there will be an adjustment and all of the philosophies won't be the same, but I'm sure he will try to model himself after [John Paul], his graciousness. . . . He never cowered. This pope will need to do the same. . . .

We had a Polish pope after hundreds of years of it being an Italian. You select someone who's the best shepherd for the world, whether that person comes from Costa Rica or Nicaragua. Wherever. You're a father for all people, for millions. . . . Be principled. Don't be a puppet. With a church this big, you have a constituency on the left, one on the right, and in the middle. But you can't touch people by sitting in your ivory tower.

You have to see hunger, and people who are distraught, and touch them. . . . You have the selling of children, slavery. We still have this barbarism.

We're so powerful as a world, but we haven't made peace among our own, and the next pope should take that quest. . . . Don't be afraid to make changes, don't bow to anyone. As the last pope said, the only way you can overcome evil is by doing good.

Piacenza, Italy
Valentina Longri, 27Economist

'An African pope can give Africa the visibility of the mass media.'

I was baptized when I was born. Then I didn't go to church anymore. I didn't do catechism, and I didn't go to religion classes in school because my parents decided that it was up to me to decide when I was older. . . .

I can't accept the dogma and the miracles and the infallibility of the pope. In the end he is just a man. These are the things, truly, that have kept me far from the church. . . . The question of euthanasia and abortion, relations before marriage, all these things. . . . [The church] has to embrace reality. Why can't priests marry?

The next pope maybe should be South American or African because an African pope can give Africa the visibility of the mass media in the way Pope Wojtyla [John Paul II] shed light on Poland. An African pope can turn the attention to hunger, AIDS. The church has to take a more avant-garde position on the condom situation, as many people in Africa die from AIDS.

Pretoria, South Africa
Boniface O.Y. Aleobua, 45
Geohydrologist for the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and vice chairman of a parish pastoral council

'It's not just about spirituality; it is about morality.'

With the church growing in Africa, one hopes that the new pope -- African or non-African -- will use his moral leadership to put pressure on Africa, particularly the political leadership.

It's not just about spirituality; it is about morality. Apart from the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we also have the struggle for economic emancipation.

The church in its doctrine is conservative; we have to accept that. . . . Catholics have norms on how things are done and the pope is the apex of the leadership. If we subscribe to the faith, we subscribe to his authority. In that sense, the pope is relevant, in terms of giving us guidance on how we meet certain challenges.

In Africa, there is a divide around condoms and the role of women, but the church is united in issues of faith. When you move around public places, there are condoms everywhere, for even kids to pick up and use. It encourages misuse, unsafe sex, and premarital sex. In the context of people who are married, who unfortunately have an illness in which the joy of sex has been affected and you want to use condoms, it is clearly different from a mass distribution of condoms. We get enmeshed in confusion of what message we are putting out.

The pope is the light of the church. If he comes from Africa, he has to bring along . . . black Africa to support him as a beacon of hope -- in terms of social justice and moral issues. He can be a shining example of what we can do or what we can stand for as Africans.

Manchester, N.H.
Dr. Emmanuel Sogah, 38
Director of adult spirituality and evangelization for the Diocese of Manchester

'The church is not about the world.'

For me, [the next pope] would be someone who would have similar qualities to John Paul, if not more. . . . I see John Paul as having been a great prophet who was given to us by God at a time when the church needed his quality of leadership. As far as the pressures and demands for change, he knew that the church is not about the world. The church is about the kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God is there to guide us away from the things that distract from the work of God. It's similar to saying, ''Let's change the Bible to suit us," asking church doctrine to change according to our specific need.

I think what the laity really needs is what [John Paul] has done. He has traveled extensively around the world to proclaim the Gospel, to tell the people that there is hope. For some reason, there are so many people out there who do not always accept what the pope says in terms of the challenges that we have to face. The Gospel of Matthew says that the road to eternal life is narrow and hard. Too many people like the wide road. . . .

He's always encouraged the young people toward that, as well. He lets them know how much each one of them uniquely is loved by God. He lovingly but firmly proclaims the Gospel and invites young people to follow suit. I think many young people have really responded to that. The challenge is that we have TV and video games and all this stuff that sometimes portrays things in the other direction. This is what is cool in the face of the world. But what is cool in the face of the world is really not cool in the kingdom of God.

Compiled by Indira Lakshmanan in La Paz and Joanna Weiss in Boston, of the Globe staff; and correspondents Laura Hambleton in Pretoria, Eric Ferkenhoff in Chicago, and Sofia Celeste in Rome.