Launched a Week ago (4/7/05), Votefornextpope.com Has Been Visited By More Than 26,000 People Across the World

Votefornextpope.com provides the public an opportunity to cast a vote and express opinions about topics related to the election of the new Pope. A Democratically Elected Pope? An Independent Web Site Shows It May Be Possible.

New York, NY (PRWEB) April 17, 2005 -- After just nine days on the Internet, VoteForNextPope.com has already been visited by more than 25,000 people eager to cast their ballot for the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church. The independent Web site was created by a 31-year-old New York businessman named Luis Massieu and his 25-year old architect girlfriend Fernanda Chandler, both of Mexican Catholic heritage.

While red-clad cardinals confer behind closed doors in the Vatican to make the official selection of the next Pope, VoteForNextPope.com is tapping ordinary peoples desire to have a say in the decision. Their votes are an opinion poll of sorts on issues like birth control, celibacy, ordination of women, genetics and biotechnology.

VoteForNextPope.com will continue to accept ballots until the cardinals announce their official selection. We are not trying to take the cardinals job away from them, but to add a little democracy into the process," explains Massieu.

We think its important that ordinary people have a chance to make their opinions heard on a decision that will affect every citizen of the world, whether Catholic or not," adds Chandler. Massieu and Chandler created www.votefornextpope.com entirely independently, and have not received any support from any organization or special interests.

Regarding the votes
Not every unique visitor to the site casts a vote on each question. Visitors are electronically prohibited from casting more than one vote for each question, through a system that tracks IP addresses.

Top Vote Winners by Name
(From among the cardinals generally considered top candidates, these are the top vote winners.)
Cardinal Francis Arinze, 72, Nigeria   85% (8,376 votes)
Norberto Rivera Carrera, 62, México   8% (742 votes)
Joseph Ratzinger, 77, Germany   2% (176 votes)

Attitudes Towards Birth Control
Question: Compared to Pope John Paul II, in areas of birth control would you like the next Pope to be:
More Conservative:   6%
As conservative:   30%
Less Conservative:   64%

Origin of Next Pope
Question: Do you think our society is ready for a Latin-American, Asian or African Pope?
No         16%
Do not know      5%
Yes         80%

Attitudes Towards Ordination of Women
Question: Would you like the ordination of women by the next Pope?
No:         53%
Do not know:      10%
Yes:         37%

Attitudes Towards Genetics/Biotechnology
Compared to Pope John Paul II, in areas of Genetics and Biotechnology would you like the next Pope to be:
More Conservative:   8%
As conservative:   41%
Less Conservative:   51%

Where the Voters Come From (Top 3):
North America   66%
South America    28%
Europe   6%

Religion of Voters
Catholic   85%
Not Catholic   15%

Age of Voters
0-20   5%
21-30   40%
31-40   32%
41-50   12%
50 and above   9%

The question confronting the Church today is not any longer whether the man in the street can grasp a religious message, but how to employ the communications media so as to let him have the full impact of the Gospel message." - Pope John Paul II

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