The personable archbishop of Tegucigalpa has long been seen as a rising star.

He is the first cardinal appointed from Honduras and only the second from Central America.

Maradiaga is so highly honoured in his country that the president asked him to head a commission that eventually decided to remove the secret police.

Maradiaga has been one of few cardinals to openly welcome his spot on the contenders list.

"Only the Holy Spirit knows who the successor is to His Sanctity, although it makes me happy that I'm mentioned so the world knows good things exist in Honduras," he said after celebrating a recent Mass, before the conclave began.

He's been a strong advocate for the Church's antipoverty mission and teamed up with U2's Bono to present a petition at the G-8 meeting in 1999, asking for debt relief.

He speaks near-perfect Italian and English along with passable French, Portuguese, German, Latin, and Greek, plays the saxophone, and has taken pilot training.