Pope Brackets 2013 March Madness

Angelo Bagnasco

Archbishop of Genoa (Intellectual Heavyweight). Teaching background in metaphysics. Had death threats over hard-line on same-sex marriages.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio

Archbishop of Buenos Aires. Compassionate Conservative. Came in 2nd behind Benedict XVI in the last tourney. 76

Chris Christie Giuseppe Betori

Archibshop of Florence. A rookie. Only been in the bigs for a year. Bridge builder between the Vatican & Italian Government. Survived an assassination attempt.

Tom (Thomas) Collins

Archbishop of Toronto. Rookie, 1 year. Strong points media savvy and rousing sermons. Helped investigate the abuse scandals in Ireland.

Timothy Dolan

Archbishop of New York. Effervescent, doesnt run from political controversy or cameras. Conservative.

Dominik Duka

Archbishop of Prague. Worked secretly as a priest during communist rule, by day worked as a designer in a factory. Designer?

William Ejik

Archbishop of Utrecht in the Netherlands. 2 Ph.Ds (Medicine and Philosophy). Expert on bioethics.

Peter Erdo

Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest in Hungary. Canon lawyer. Kind of a climber in the company biz.

Sean OMalley

Archbishop of Boston. Wears sandals and a monk hoodie.

John Onaiyekan

Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria. Hailed as the Timothy Dolan of Africa, big personality.

Marc Oullet

Former Archbishop of Quebec. Fluent in 6 languages, (and hockey?) Works at the Vatican.

George Pell

Archbishop of Sydney. Son of pub owners (extra credit there). Publically questioned Benedicts decision to resign

Albert Malcolm Ranjith

Archbishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Close to Benedict. May be too traditional; against communion in the hand, and a fan of the Latin Mass.

Leonardo Sandri

Argentinian, Vatican diplomat. Was Chief of Staff. Well-liked but may be seen as better #2 than Pope. (Vice-Pope?)

Robert Sarah

Former Archbishop of Conakry, Guinea. 67. Heads Vaticans charitable arm. Progressive on social justice but conservative on gays, contraception, abortion.

Christopher Schonborn

Archbishop of Vienna. Wild Card. Moderate. Comes from a noble family & speaks 7 languages.

Angelo Scola

Some say a favorite. Headed the church in Venice, is now Archbishop of Milan. Ties to conservative groups. Expert in bioethics. May lack the charisma to seal the deal. German born in Brazil. Archbishop of Sao Paulo. But experience in Rome. 63. Moderate-conservative but challenged at home on his catholocism by Protestant groups. Huh? Archbishop of Manila. Charisma, preaching style brings people to tears. But only 55 & a rookie, only 4 months a cardinal. Maybe next time.

Odilo Scherer

Luis Tagle