Both geographically and historically, the region of Andalusia in Spain is a crossroads of humanity. Bordering both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, it’s physically part of Europe but for six centuries it was known as al-Andalus and formed a key outpost of the Islamic world.
It’s perhaps fitting that Andalusia therefore would give birth to a papal candidate who seems to unify three different worlds in his own biography: 72-year-old Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero, who currently serves as the Archbishop of Rabat in North Africa and who’s also spent considerable portions of his career in Paraguay and Bolivia.
