A Contender for the Papacy Known for Promoting Dialogue With Other Faiths

Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille, France — considered a contender to be the next pope — has been jokingly referred to for years as John XXIV. He owes the nickname to his physical resemblance to the stocky, amiable former church leader, Pope John XXIII, who was a hero to many liberal Catholics for his efforts to open the church to modernity.

Now the cardinal’s supporters hope that nickname was prescient.

“I think he would be a great pope,” said Jean-François Colosimo, a French theologian and editor of the Catholic publishing house Cerf, who has known Cardinal Aveline for more than 20 years.

He added that Cardinal Aveline is “neither a progressive nor a conservative,” but someone who “can talk, listen, and build bridges while staying extremely firm on his identity.”

Cardinal Aveline, 66, was recently elected as the head of the French bishops’ conference. He has spent a large part of his career promoting dialogue between different faiths in Marseille, a Mediterranean, cosmopolitan port city at the confluence of diverse cultures and religions that is also plagued by poverty and crime.

Among candidates, Cardinal Aveline would be a less obvious choice. Working in his favor: he mixes Francis’ openness to dialogue with deep theological knowledge. Possibly working against him: conclaves have not been warm to French candidates since the 14th century, when a French pope moved the papacy to Avignon in the south of France.

Another challenge is that Cardinal Aveline is not particularly familiar with the inner workings of the Vatican, said Isabelle de Gaulmyn, the former editor-in chief of the French Catholic newspaper La Croix. And he is not fluent in Italian, the language used in day-to-day operations at the Vatican.