Rome

Journalism 101 teaches you to put your article’s bold claim at top, so people will pay attention, and then qualify it to death later if you must.

So, here’s my bold claim: Against all odds, the American cardinals are emerging as the anti-establishment insurgents of the 2013 conclave.

I say “against all odds” because it’s become conventional wisdom that over the last twenty years, the goalposts within the U.S. bishops’ conference have shifted to the right, towards defense of church teaching and tradition rather than accommodating secular mores.

Papabile of the day: Brazilian Cardinal João Bráz de Aviz: a gentle and compassionate figure who favors dialogue may not have the grit it takes to be pope.

Papabile of the day: Today's papabile, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, refused to abandon Catholics in Iraq in 2003, even when bombs flew.