Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States in April is the first papal visit since his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, traveled to St. Louis in 1999. It's also the first papal visit to New York City since 1995.

Benedict's schedule includes an official greeting at the White House, meetings with U.S. bishops, priests and other religious leaders.

Before Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was elected pope in April 2005, there was speculation the new pope would be from Africa or Latin America, or if the church would return to its tradition of an Italian pope, or possibly even elect someone from another European nation.

One thing was certain: An American becoming pope was not in the cards.

Top American Catholic leaders, such as Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali, Chicago Cardinal Francis George, and Baltimore Cardinal William Keeler -- the longest-reigning leader of an American archdiocese -- were not even considered.

It's not because U.S. high clergy aren't eligible to be chosen, but because the global consensus is that the United States already has too much political, economic and military power.

America's commanding role in the world makes it virtually impossible for an American cardinal to become pope.

The cardinals who elected Ratzinger the next pope are a conservative group. All but five of the 117 voting cardinals, or cardinal electors, were appointed by Pope John Paul II, and most likely shared his views.

Some of the factors the cardinals may have considered when voting included: Do they choose someone from a Third World country or a European? Do they want someone young (under 70) or someone older who may not be around as long?

Other issues considered may have been the variety of challenges the new pope would face, including advances in science that conflict with Catholic teaching, declining religious observance in Europe and North America, decreasing number of priests in the West, interfaith tensions and significant global unrest.

There was no clear favorite when the 117 cardinals began their secret conclave after Pope John Paul II died. Some of the names mentioned as "papabile" (the Italian word for possible papal candidates) included Cardinal Francis Arinze, a Vatican-based Nigerian, and Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes.

Some of the other candidates who were considered for papal candidacy:

• Honduran Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga was the former head of the Latin American Bishops group. He's a strong opponent of Third World debt and even teamed up with U2's Bono to present a petition at the G-8 meeting in 1999 to ask for debt relief.
• Italian Dionigi Tettamanzi was conservative and well liked by the very conservative Opus Dei movement.
• Austrian Christoph Schönborn was not only a cardinal, he was a count. Schönborn was chosen by Pope John Paul II to serve as the general editor of the revised Catholic catechism.
• Cuban Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino may have been from a Communist country, but he was considered a bastion of faith and is also Hispanic.

During the 20th century, seven of the nine popes were Italian. John Paul II was the only Polish pope, and the first non-Italian pope since the Dutch Adrian VI in the 1520s. Benedict is of German descent.