Manila, April 23 -- An official of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is calling on the public to refrain from publicly promoting Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle to be the next head of the Roman Catholic Church following Pope Francis' death.

According to Fr. Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the CBCP - Episcopal Commission on Public Affairs, the issue of the next pope would be decided by the cardinal-electors in the upcoming conclave.

"We leave it to the cardinal-electors to decide who will succeed Pope Francis. It's not prudent for the people to publicly push for Cardinal Tagle as the next pope since it may be misconstrued that the conclave can be influenced by outside forces if and when Cardinal Tagle indeed...