Bishop Thomas John Paprocki leads the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. Even though voting results are supposed to stay secret, Paprocki says he's seen reports that suggest that in 2005, Francis was a runner-up to his predecessor, the recently retired Pope Benedict:
"The fact that his name was already out there within the College of Cardinals indicates that maybe that's one of the reasons why they were able to come to this decision in, some ways I think, kind of quickly."
Paprocki says he's not surprised the new pope comes from Latin America. He says more Catholics live there than any other part of the world.
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