If elected pope, Arinze would put black conservatives in forefront

John Railey of the Winston-Salem Journal writes:

There's a chance that the coming white smoke in Rome will rise for the first black pope in modern times.

Francis Arinze, a cardinal from Nigeria with ties to Winston-Salem, could be that pope. It wouldn't be his race alone that's controversial, although there are too many racists left in the world who still make pigment an issue. More than anything else, the controversy if Arinze is elected pope would be over the fact that he's black and rigidly conservative.