VATICAN CITY, April 4 (UPI) -- The selection of the first 21st century pope will reflect the Roman Catholic Church leadership's sense of which of many challenges is most pressing.
Some issues present themselves to the cardinals who will elect the next pope as socio-economic challenges, the New York Times reported Monday.
Catholics in developed nations live in a world that is thoroughly secularized and largely materialistic, while the faithful in poor nations face the growth of Pentecostal Christianity and Islam.
Other issues present themselves in geo-political terms. The world's economic center of gravity is shifting to China and India, both of which are using their growing wealth to build military forces.
Administratively, the church suffers from an acute lack of priests: Some 1.1 billion Catholics depend on a mere 400,000 clerics for sacraments, which are the heart of Roman Catholic spirituality.
