Cardinal who graduated from UCG among contenders to be next Pope

Date Published: 11-Feb-2013

By Bernie Ní Fhlatharta

A Galway graduate has been tipped as the next possible Pope.

The name of South African cardinal Wilfrid Napier has been mentioned . . . though he is a long shot at 80/1 with Paddy Power to success Pope Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Napier graduated from NUI Galway (then UCG) in 1964 with a degree in Latin and English and 31 years later in 1995, the college bestowed an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on him.

He had studied in Galway as part of his travels to the Irish Provence of the Franciscans and after spending one year in Killarney as a novitiate with them.

Following further studies in Leuven in Belgium, he returned to his native South Africa and was ordained in 1970.

He became active in the campaign to end apartheid and much later faced the challenging HIV/Aids problem which started in South Africa where it still continues to be a problem.

After only ten years as a priest, he became a bishop and later Archbishop of Durban until he was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope John Paul II in 2001.

The 71-year-old is recognised as a pastoral leader and one who has travelled the same road as his fellow countrymen in the face of racism, persecution, suffering and poverty.

While he was a student in Galway, he excelled in sports. He stayed in St Anthony’s College, which now houses some of the Arts Faculty on the NUIG campus.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel