Benedict's resignation renews calls for an African pope

"It would take a skilled leader of the church -- in the kind of way that a John Paul II reached out to the Eastern church, to the Orthodox churches of the east," Utomi said.

Vatican watchers say the college of cardinals may seize the moment to elect a Latin-American, African or Asian pope.

Others say 85-year-old Benedict -- who is resigning for age reasons -- may call on the cardinals to elect someone younger, who is less likely to suffer failing health early in his mandate.

Benedict visited Africa twice, most recently the West African nation of Benin in 2011, while before that Angola and Cameroon in 2009. His Benin visit came 150 years after what is considered the evangelisation of the country by missionaries.

Archbishop of Lagos Alfred Adewale Martins said Benedict should be lauded for his efforts in Africa.

"I believe he is one man that we should be grateful to God for the attitude to the church in general and also the solicitude that he has demonstrated in very many ways to the church in Africa in particular," said Martins.

But Benedict's outreach on the continent notwithstanding, there were still doubts over whether an African would be put at the head of the Vatican.

At Saint Antonio da Polana Church in the Mozambique capital Maputo after Benedict's announcement, parishioner Zeb Renardo said he did not think the time had come.

"I will say categorically that I doubt we will have an African pope," he said. "I think the moment hasn't come for us to see an African pope."

But the rector at Ivory Coast's Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro, a semi-replica of St. Peter's in Rome and the largest Christian shrine in Africa, said "why not a non-Western pope?"

"The world is now multi-colour," Polish priest Stanislaw Skuza said.