A listener who appeals to young people and women and trusts the local church - a consensus seems to be emerging among Irish Catholics about the qualities required in the next pope. Kate Holmquist writes
John Furey
Divine Word missionary
The next pope should not be an identikit replacement for John Paul II, who had a gift for communicating with certain categories of people but who failed to engage with educated, liberal Catholics. He will need an empathy with people who really suffer, not just in the physical sense, but in the sense of the emotional suffering of homosexuals and of women who have been marginalised by the hierarchy. John Paul II's forbidding of discussion of women priests was a dreadful mistake.
The question of authority within the church is going to become more and more pressing; there is no way that we can have another monarchical papacy, which is not particularly Christ-like. So many priests have left the church and there are tens of thousands of Catholics with theology degrees who should have a role in the selection of bishops and the formation of opinion. It is heartbreaking that many marvellous women are turning their backs on the church. In the past, some cardinals have been laymen, so there is no reason why women could not be cardinals, even without being priests.
Celibacy is also time-conditioned, in that it has been a condition for only half the life of the church. Many bishops and priests privately favour women priests and married priests, but they are afraid to say so publicly. I would be very happy if the next pope came from Latin America, particularly Brazil, where the quality of celebration and music reminds me of the church of the first disciples. The European church is moribund; a Brazilian pope would be a great gift to the universal church.
Mary Banotti
Former MEP
John Paul II was a total male Pole - first and foremost macho. I suspect the next pope will be an interim, holding pope. There's no cardinal that would inspire you to say "he's interesting". I suspect that a black African pope would be too revolutionary an idea and the African cardinals themselves are so conservative that a black pope would not be sympathetic to women's concerns, such as the issue of women priests. A Latin-American pope would probably be conservative in this area too.
The next pope must be worldly, sophisticated and media-savvy, since he will be dealing with some pretty worldly things. It can't be somebody who doesn't recognise that paedophilia is bad for the church. A revived spirituality among western Europeans will come not from the pope but from a revitalised local church. Our spiritual needs have grown beyond what one man can fulfil.
Gina Menzies
Catholic theologian
For the last 26 years we have had a monarchical leadership with bishops disenfranchised every bit as much as the rest of us. What we need now is an internal reform of how the church is governed, involving the people in a spirit of "collegiality", to quote the term used in Vatican II. The future lies in the local church being given some autonomy to run its affairs.
Many church decisions over the past 26 years, particularly those relating to child abuse, would have been different if they had been made at local level. Instead, any question has had to be referred to Rome and back again. The hierarchical approach has been one-size-fits-all, not taking into account diversity.
Women should be involved in discussions relating to their lives. Teachings are not infallible; truth is discerned through dialogue within the context of the modern world, taking into account the insights of sociology and psychology. You can't just discard them. You don't have to be a priest to practise ministry - we could have married clergy, part-time clergy, women clergy. We don't have enough people to minister - more women were ordained in Dublin in the Anglican Church last year than priests ordained on the whole island. We need to include the wisdom and experience of women in the Catholic Church. To exclude them is cracked.
Fr Iggy O'Donovan
Junior curate, Meath Street, Dublin, and teacher at All Hallows College, UCD and Augustinian International College, Rome
In many ways the pontiff is a ceremonial head of state and the identity of the new pope will make little or no difference to the way Catholicism operates on the ground. In reality, 99.9 per cent of the people in the church are working at the coalface and popes never see the coalface. I think that John Paul II was loved for his innate goodness, which people could sense. Many don't realise, though, he found liberal western democracy more insufferable than life under Stalin. He had been an actor at one point and he knew that one gesture equals two million books. The next pope has to be a good frontman, and John Paul II will be a hard act to follow.
The new pope will be slow to overhaul previous decisions and we will still have the gap between theoretical teaching and real life. The next pope should be less travelled. Covering 200 countries may not be the answer.
Feargal Quinn
Papal knight, senator and businessman
The new pope has to be a listening pope. I'm not suggesting that Pope John Paul II was not. I don't want to see someone who is wishy-washy and ambivalent; the church needs clarity right now. In terms of attracting more vocations to the priesthood, you want people to want to work for you. In the developing world, the church is burgeoning, while the developed world appears to be losing faith.
The new pope doesn't have to follow the style of John Paul II to be effective. He's going to have to grasp the challenge of attracting young people. It's a bit like someone taking over a business that is doing well in some areas but not in others. Do you starve the opportunities while you feed the problems? The correct thing to do would be to pay more attention to the successes. He will have to be a good manager, someone who can make the most of the talent available.
Caroline Morahan
Presenter of RTÉ's Off the Rails
I would like to see a female pope, for one thing. I am spiritual, and while I am a devout Catholic and a regular Mass-goer, a lot of my beliefs would be more Buddhist. I disagree with the church's attitudes to homosexuality; God's message should exclude no one.
I think the anti-contraception stance is anti-women and that celibacy is ludicrous. For many people, faith has been replaced by greed and ambition and they have lost their spiritual core, so I think the next pope has to make faith relevant to those people.
Noel Smyth
Solicitor
The next pope should try to call Vatican III, and the role of women in the church should be the starting place. Women have brought about the most unbelievable changes in the past 40 years and the church has lost out. The late pope's veneration of Our Lady showed that he was willing to recognise women, but only by putting them on a pedestal, idealising them while being afraid of the reality. The next pope can use the profile that John Paul II created as a platform for moving forward in accepting the reality of women, beyond the idealised aspirations. I think John Paul II would love that. The next pope must also give a voice to the poor. We are in world war three in terms of Aids, oppression and terrorism.
Audrey Dillon
Medical student and pro-life campaigner
The next pope will need to be able to teach people where the church stands, not change teaching to suit the opinion polls. He will need to ensure that straight-talking and clarity is spread throughout the international church, downwards to the priests, who are afraid that standing up for the church's teaching will drive people away. People deserve to know what the church teaches, so there should be a greater emphasis on education. I'm not insulted that I'm not allowed to be a priest. John Paul II wrote about "the genius of women" in their ability to humanise the world. The church does not have to ordain women to recognise that gift.
Regarding the Aids epidemic in Africa, faithfulness to one person is the best way to prevent thespread of the disease.
Those who do not follow this teaching are not then going to follow the next pope if he were to say that condoms can be used to stop the spread of the disease. It's patronising to look at it that way.
I agree with natural family planning for Catholics. It is woman-friendly and is part of a greater understanding of the dignity of the human person.
Ryan Tubridy
Presenter of RTÉ's Tubridy Tonight
Looking at Pope John Paul's funeral, there were the very old and the very young. There's a lost generation in middle age, who feel betrayed by the church as a consequence of the scandals, and they practise their faith very privately and personally, often at home. The next pope has to maintain the enthusiasm of the young and the old, while also bringing back these dormant Catholics.
We need another charismatic showman and communicator who is willing to be progressive.
Cathy Molloy
Theologian, Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice
The new pope has to be his own person, someone strong enough to hold on to the good that has been achieved and to reflect critically on the harm that has been done. He must be humble enough to admit that we are seekers of truth as much as guardians of truth, brave and courageous enough to address the complexity of life on earth today. We need someone who understands the difference between being authoritative and being authoritarian.
We need a pope who will encourage a culture of listening, especially to women and to all who experience hurt and alienation at the hands of the church. The pope will need a huge capacity to love, to reach out and inspire that desire in all of us to love and be loved. We need someone in tune with the "spark of God" in all people, so that even dissenting theologians would be respectfully acknowledged.
The next pope must address the gap between rich and poor, between the developing world and the materially rich first world. He will have to deal with the reality of the Aids crisis and its causes, poverty being the obvious one but also the question of the use of condoms as one vital means of prevention.
The pope will also have to be open on the question of sexuality and the dignity of all human beings. The church will have to address the present impasse in relation to divorced and remarried people and participation in the Eucharist.
The church must face the credibility gap concerning who is excluded and on what grounds. There is a contradiction between the exclusion of people involved in particular types of sexual relationship and the welcome sometimes afforded to people involved in the outrageous exploitation of fellow human beings.
I don't expect to see the ordination of women happening any time soon but we must at least pursue discussions in a respectful way - the dignity of every human person, so much championed by John Paul II, requires it.
Fr Jim Caffrey
Catholic Youth Care
John Paul II had a strong youth ministry and, despite that, there has been difficulty engaging with young people in western Europe. I would hope that the next pope would be able to identify with young people and reach out to them. A Latin-American or an African pope would have a foothold in social justice, which appeals to the young, although in a global world nationality does not matter so much. The next pope could not possibly be as charismatic as John Paul, so perhaps he should be a person of humility, who is close to the poor.
Sean Ascough
Youth 2000
John Paul II was the greatest influence on my life, apart from my own blood father. The role of the papacy is one of fatherhood. The first and most important quality is personal holiness and a deep love for Christ. From that flows all the works of ministry, such as standing up for the poor, the weak, the unborn, the elderly - all those who can't speak for themselves. A pope must be a great thinker and a theologian, but also a great lover. His love is not directed towards his sexuality, but towards the will to do good. John Paul II was the greatest lover of all. His sexuality was not suppressed, it was sublimated into loving other people. The next pope must be open to deep love and to deep suffering.
Anna Nolan
Former nun and presenter of RTÉ's The Afternoon Show
I would like the next pope to be a woman. That's not going to happen for a long time. Speaking as an ex-Catholic, I would like the next pope to be more open-minded in the area of women and their involvement in the church, as well as in relation to homosexuality. The church does not want to have any dialogue about homosexuality and Cardinal Ratzinger five years ago described homosexuality as "evil", which was an extremely negative message. I would like to see a decentralisation of the Vatican to give power back to bishops and priests, because they are the ones who are aware of people's lives and needs.
Mary Malone
Feminist theologian and author of Women and Christianity
I have few expectations of any future pope, but I am willing to be surprised. I am not all that interested in women being ordained into the priesthood, which is wholly a male construct, designed, experienced, ritualised, theologised and inhabited by men. The most a pope can do is enter into dialogue with women; that is, to recognise the relevance of half the Christian community.
The most recent papal document was on "collaboration" between women and men. No women were consulted - it is essentially how men tell women to collaborate on men's terms.
The Catholic Church has dealt with pestilence, famine and genocide, but while I would like the next pope to be equipped to deal with the female, I think this is unlikely.