Does a pope choose his own successor?

[bishop]

I have heard that as a pope is serving his term, he starts to develop a list of potential candidates to succeed him. As that list is being developed and he is considering candidates, can he consider a woman to become pope?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

bishop:

I have heard that as a pope is serving his term, he starts to develop a list of potential candidates to succeed him.

Any such preparation for successors to the papacy is entirely unofficial and does not in any way bind the College of Cardinals, which is the electoral body of the pope. A present pope can subtly indicate preferences by the manner in which he shows favor to particular men, but he cannot do much more than that. And although the College of Cardinals may take such indicators into consideration if it wishes, it is entirely free to disregard any such marks of preference by the previous pope.

For example, it has been speculated that John Paul II may have indicated preference for Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger to succeed him to the papacy by keeping Cardinal Ratzinger as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for five terms (most heads of congregations serve only one or two terms) and by refusing on more than one occasion to allow Cardinal Ratzinger to retire from active duty (even though John Paul did allow other cardinals thought to be *papabile ** to retire). Even if that is the case, it was the decision of the College of Cardinals to elect Cardinal Ratzinger, not of John Paul II.

bishop:

As that list is being developed and he is considering candidates, can he consider a woman to become pope?

No. The pope must be the Bishop of Rome. In order to become the Bishop of Rome, the person elected must be able to receive episcopal ordination through the sacrament of holy orders. Since a woman cannot validly receive the sacrament of holy orders, she cannot become the Bishop of Rome. Since a woman cannot be ordained to the episcopate, it would be pointless for a reigning pope to indicate a preference for a woman to succeed him as pope.*