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With the latest Catholic Church sex abuse scandal hitting a little close to home, odds on a Papal resignation have now been released by Ireland's biggest bookmaker, Paddy Power.
While Papal resignations are rare, they do happen. Pope Celestine V and Pope Gregory XII both resigned for the greater good of the Catholic Church and as recent as 2002 there was speculation that Pope John Paul II would resign due to failing health.
The latest scandal surrounds a chorister who was sacked for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for a papal gentleman-in-waiting.
The pope's brother said in a newspaper interview published Tuesday that he slapped pupils as punishment after he took over a renowned German boys' choir in the 1960s. He also said he was aware of allegations of physical abuse at an elementary school linked to the choir but did nothing about it.
A significant amount of money was now pouring in on Francis Arinze, now the favorite to be named the next Pope.
Paddy Power said "The dark clouds of clerical abuse scandals show no sign of abating and recent reports from Germany are surely a little! too close to home for the Pope. Current betting patterns hint toward a possible papal resignation and should this happen Cardinal Arinze seems the most papabile"
Who will be The Next Pope?
4/1 Francis Arinze (Nigeria)
8/1 Cardinal Angelo Scola (Venice)
8/1 Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga (Honduras)
8/1 Cardinal Peter Turkson
10/1 Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Argentina)
10/1 Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco (Italy)
10/1 Cardinal William Levada (America)
12/1 Count Christoph von Schoenborn (Austria)
12/1 Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (Italy)
12/1 Dionigi Tettamanzi (Italy)
14/1 Archbishop Piero Marini (Italy)
14/1 Archbishop Raymond Burke (America)
14/1&nb! sp; Cardinal Leonardo Sandri (Argentina)
16/1 &n bsp; Claudio Hummes (Brazil)
16/1 Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa (Chile)
18/1 Daniel DiNardo (Galveston-Houston)
18/1 Cardinal Marc Ouellet (Canada)
20/1 Cardinal Karl Lehmann (Germany)
20/1 Attilio Cardinal Nicora (Roman Curia)
20/1 Cardinal Ruini (Italy)
20/1 Norberto Rivera Carrera (Mexico)
20/1 Jose Da Cruz Policar (Portugal)
20/1 JaimeLucas Ortega y Alamino (Cuba)
20/1 Cardinal Renato Martino (Italy)
20/1 Wilfred Napier (South Africa)
20/1 Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera (Spain)
25/1 Angelo Sodano (Italy)
25/1 Cardinal Ivan Dias (India)
33/1 Antonio MarÃa Rouco Varela (Spain)
33/1 &nbs! p; Philippe Barbarin (France)
33/1 Cardinal Sean Brady (Ireland)
40/1 Giacomo Biffi (Italy)
40/1 Giovanni Battista Re (Italy)
40/1 Cormac Murphy-O'Connor (UK)
50/1 Geraldo Majella Agnelo (Brazil)
50/1 Cardinal Dario Castrillion Hoyos (Colombia)
50/1 Lopez Rodriguez (Dominican Republic)
50/1 Keith O Brien (Scotland)
50/1 Timothy Dolan (USA)
50/1 Cardinal Odilo Scherer (Sao Paulo)
66/1 Cardinal Walter Kasper (Germany)
66/1 Godfried Danneels (Belgium)
66/1 Cardinal George Pell (Australia)
66/1 Diarmuid Martin
80/1 Cardinal Amigo Vallejo (Spain)
80/1 Francis George (USA)
100/1 Cardinal Carlo Maria Matini (! Italy)
125/1 Silvano Piovanelli (Italy)
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Jordan Bach, Gambling911.com
