21 June 2008

The Westminster Stakes: Archbishop Nichols, Says Paddy Power

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Archbishop Nicols is now as close to evens as we are likely to be going to see. Nobody else has moved. My guess is that this means one very big bet, or a reasonable number of medium-sized bets on the Archbishop of Birmingham.

REMINDER: the odds quoted below don't tell you what the Pope is thinking, as he looks at the possibles for Westminster: they tell you what "insiders" think is going to happen.

If I had ever put anything on Archbishop Nichols, I think I would be trying to lay it off: I can't think of anything that has happened recently that might advance his cause, other than a bunch of pious supporters punting at Paddy Power's.

The "Cardinal Pell for Westminster" movement seems to have gone very quiet: why?

I hope for his sake that Paddy isn't going to be as rash as he was in Ireland, paying out on a "Yes" referendum result before the count had even started.

Good fun, this, isn't it!

Rt Rev Vincent Nichols 5-4 (2-1) (7-4) (2-1) (7-2)
Fr Timothy Radcliffe 6-1 (10-1) (6-1)
Dom Hugh Gilbert 8-1 (6-1) (4-1)
Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon 8-1
Rt Rev Kevin McDonald 8-1 (6-1) (5-1) (7-2)
Bishop William Kenney 9-1 (8-1) (15-2) (6-1)
Rt Rev Alan Hopes 10-1 (8-1) (6-1) (11-2)
Rt Rev Arthur Roche 10-1 (12-1) (10-1) (12-1)
Fr T Finegan 10-1
Cardinal Pell 12-1 (10-1)
Rt Rev Peter Smith 12-1
Fr Aidan Nichols 14-1 (12-1) (11-1) (5-1) (6-1)
Archbishop Michael Louis Fitzgerald 16-1 (14-1) (12-1) (10-1) (12-1)
Rt Rev Patrick Kelly 16-1 (14-1) (12-1) (10-1) (12-1)
Rt Rev Bernard Longley 20-1 (16-1) (14-1) (12-1)
Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue 20-1 (16-1)
Bishop George Stack 20-1 (16-1)
Fr Christopher Jamison 20-1
Rt Rev Michael Evans 22-1 (20-1) (16-1)
Bishop John Rawsthorne 25-1 (20-1)
Bishop John Patrick Crowley Non-runner (33-1)

5 comments:

the mother of this lot said...

I still think the Abbot's worth risking a pound.

Kirk said...

Cardinal Pell is a dark horse.
From Rector of Corpus Christi Seminary to Auxiliary Bishop to Archbishop of Melbourne to Archbishop of Sydney to Cardinal in a 'relatively' short time.
I'm not saying he is the one but don't write him of just yet!
Plus Pope Benedict will meet him at the World Youth Day in Sydney so he will be very much in the Holy Father's line of vision. . .

Mulier Fortis said...

And our very own Fr. Finigan is still in the running (according to Paddy Power) - maybe we should send him off to Oz for a little holiday...

(BTW do you realise that you spell Fr. Finigan's name a different (incorrect) way each time you mention him?)
;-)

Ttony said...

Mac: it's a gift.

It doesn't matter, though, because he isn't going to be A of W. You're going to have to let go ...

Anonymous said...

It won't be Fr Tim or Cardinal Pell. The pope doesn't need to go to Sydney to meet him - he sees him often enough in Rome, no doubt advising on the next A of W!

Someone else the Pope will meet in Sydney, though, is Pell's young auxiliary - Dominican Bishop Anthony Fisher, who is very familiar with the English scene and wholly orthodox to boot - perhaps more so than his boss. We might wonder why his name isn't on the list.