Ten Spaniards among candidates to replace Pope Benedict XVI

UP to 10 Spanish Cardinals could be elected as Pope when Benedict XVI leaves his post on Thursday, February 28 after resigning due to 'old age and health problems'.

Following the Pontiff's startling announcement yesterday, speculation has been rife as to who his successor will be.

In theory, any man who is celibate and has been christened can become Pope, but the leader of the world Catholic Church is normally one of 120 Cardinals elected.

Among the 62 European members of the electing board are five Spaniards who could also become Pope – Carlos Amigo Vallejo, aged 79; Santos Abril Castelló, aged 78; Antonio María Rouco Varela, 77, who is the Archbishop of Madrid; Lluís Martínez Sistach, 77, and Antonio Cañizares Llovera, 67.

Cañizares Llovera and Rouco Varela have both heavily criticised abortion, with the former claiming it was 'worse than child abuse', and the latter is known to be very anti-gay marriage.

Another five Spanish Cardinals who are eligible to become Pope but are not allowed to vote on the new one because they are over 80 years old are Julián Herranz, former president of the Pontificate Council for Legislative Texts; Francisco Álvarez Martínez, Archbishop Emeritus of Toledo; Ricardo María Carles Godó, Emeritus of Barcelona; Eduardo Martínez Somalo, former Camerlengo ('Chamberlain') of the Holy Roman Church, and José Manel Estepa Llaurens, Military Archbishop Emeritus.

To date, four Popes have been Spanish, with the most widely-known being members of the infamous Borgia, or Borja dynasty – Calixto III, born in Valencia and whose real name was Alonso de Borja y Cavanilles, between 1455 and 1458; and his nephew, Alessandro VI, born in Xàtiva (Valencia) and who was really called Rodrigo de Borja, from 1492 to 1503.

The first was Dámaso I, from 'Gallaecia' – as the north-western region of Galicia was then known – from 366 AD to his death in 384, the 'author' of the 'Hallelujah' formula and the only Spanish Pope to have been made a Saint, despite having been accused of murder.

Spain's most recent Pope was Pedro Martínez de Luna y Pérez de Gotor, known by the more succinct title of Benedict XIII of Avignon and born in Illueca (Zaragoza province).

The only Spanish Pope Benedict, known as 'the anti-Pope' because of his non-conformist ways, reigned from 1394 to 1423.

He lived to be 96 years old, having escaped numerous attempts on his life by poisoning.