Next Pope Betting Odds: Peter Turkson now joins Mark Ouellet and Luis Antonio Tagle as JOINT FAVOURITE to be the next Pope!

Peter Turkson is now joint favourite to be the next Pope

The betting market for the next Pope is still available and Peter Turkson has now joined Mark Ouellet and Luis Antonio Tagle at the top of the odds to be the next Pope.

Bookmakers make the trio 4/1 joint favourites at the top of the betting with the market unable to split the three and pick an outright favourite.

Turkson could well be the first black Pope if he was chosen next and he has regularly been mentioned in the past as a key option to take over from Francis.

Cardinal Luis Tagle, or Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle to give him his full name, has been an outright favourite in the betting market in the past but is now alongside Turkson and Cardinal Marc Ouellet.

Pope Francis releases new book about Africa trip

Pope Francis has been in the news this week following the Vatican Publishing house announcing the released of a new book entitled 'Hands off Africa!".

The book, written in Italian, will be about Pope Francis' trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this year collecting all of his speeches during that trip and his visit to South Sudan.

Hands off Africa also has a preface by the Nigerian feminist writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Francis II is favourite to be the Papal name of the next Pope

Further betting markets are available around the next Pope with the next Papal name also an interesting one to see what name the next Pope will have.

According to the latest odds we'll see another Francis next with Francis II the favourite in the betting at 5/4 ahead of other contenders.

John Paul is second favourite at 7/1 with just a 12% chance we see the Pope take that name next and John is the most common name used by Popes.

The most common names used by Popes are:

• John (23)
• Gregory (16)
• Benedict (16)
• Clement (14)
• Leo (13)
• Innocent (12)
• Pius (12)
• Stephen (9)