Latin America: Five centuries after Europeans imposed Catholicism on the New World, Latin Americans are torchbearers of the faith and clamouring for the next pope to be one of their own.
There are several strong Latin-American candidates and, if one of them is elected, it would mark a shift in church power to a region that has half of the world's Catholics. Many think it is long overdue.
"In Europe, people have already lost their religion. We carry it inside us, this is where it lives," said Rosa Godinez, a middle-aged woman outside the Virgin of the Remedies church atop a pre-Hispanic pyramid in the Mexican town of Cholula, a potent symbol of the conquest.
Cholula was a major Aztec city and religious centre when Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes arrived in 1519. The Aztecs planned an ambush but Cortes was tipped off and his forces struck first, killing thousands of people in a one-day massacre. The city was then looted by the Spaniards' allies and hundreds of pagan temples were destroyed.
"Tradition says the blood ran like a river," said local historian Manuel Tlatoa. "To dominate a people, you attack their religion, their culture, their philosophy. It killed the very heart of the people."
The Spaniards, who fought on horseback and with muskets and cannon, destroyed the Aztec empire in what is now Mexico and the Incas in Peru over the next decades as they pillaged the New World for gold and silver and imposed Catholicism on pagan societies.
The religion took hold across Latin America and the continent remains overwhelmingly Catholic, even if many people have held on to traditional customs.
Younger urban populations often ignore church sexual teaching, although conservative social mores and the family are still stronger than in Europe. Many want the Vatican to recognise that now by picking a Latin American to lead the church.
"I think it could be a Latin-American pope because Our Lord was from the poor and the poor are here," said Jazmin Gomez, a store worker in the Chilean capital Santiago.
Senior churchmen have also said the cardinals will have to consider Latin America.
"Whoever is elected pope must think that the largest number of Catholics are concentrated in this continent and, as a consequence, when electing they will think about Latin America," said the Dominican Republic's Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez, one of the possible candidates.
Mgr Baltazar Porras, president of Venezuela's episcopal conference, said the election of a Latin-American pope would be a powerful gesture towards "a continent of hope".
"In these times of globalisation, I think this gesture would be welcomed by the immense majority of Catholics in the world," said Mgr Porras.
"It's a much more youthful and energetic church than the older Christian communities in the world," he said, although he added that that an African could also be elected.
Brazil and Mexico are the world's largest Catholic nations.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said he hopes for a Brazilian pope - the strongest candidate there is Cardinal Claudio Hummes, archbishop of Sao Paulo.
Cardinal Hummes has himself said the next pope's nationality is not important: "The church is by definition universal so, although it is totally possible the successor be from any country, including from Latin America, the most important thing is that we elect the most ideal man, regardless of where he is from."
Other possible candidates include Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina and Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos of Colombia.