The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), and the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity said in separate interviews that the future of the Church "does not lie in Europe".
In an interview with the German daily Rheinische Post CDF head Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller said, "I know a number of bishops and cardinals from Latin America who could take responsibility for the entire world Church".
Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, last month told the Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger: "In my eyes it would be a good thing if a candidate from Latin America or Africa were elected at the next conclave."