Italian bishops were red-faced Thursday after releasing a statement thanking God for the election of the archbishop of Milan to the papacy -- though the new pope's home bastion is quite a bit farther afield in Buenos Aires. Apparently ultra-confident that one of their own would snag the Vatican's top job as leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, the bishops expressed "joy and thanks" to God for the election of Cardinal Angelo Scola.

VATICAN CITY, March 12 (Reuters) - Cardinals Angelo Scola of Milan and Odilo Scherer of Sao Paulo are the two most often mentioned frontrunners in the conclave to elect the next Roman Catholic pope which opens on Tuesday. But about a dozen names of "papabili" (possible popes) are circulating among Vatican watchers in Rome. And the 115 cardinal electors can turn to other candidates among themselves if the initial favourites fail to build momentum towards the necessary two-thirds majority, or 77 votes.

The son of a socialist truck driver and a pious housewife mother, Milan archbishop Angelo Scola is the leading Italian candidate to succeed Benedict XVI and an advocate of dialogue with Islam. The 71-year-old Scola is perhaps along with Canadian Marc Ouellet one of the closest ideological heirs to Benedict, combining conservative doctrinal views with progressive social advocacy on issues like immigration and poverty. Scola was a favourite last time around in 2005 but was seen as too young.