Right, left, and center, why is no cardinal good enough to be papabile anymore?

With the press knocking down any cardinal who looks like a possible pope, is a way being cleared for a chosen heir to Francis, or a conclave free-for-all?

Past a certain point in a pontificate, handicapping the frontrunners to succeed the pope becomes an inevitable part of the daily chatter among curial staffers and Vatican journalists.

But the current field of contenders is surprisingly thin, and, given the increasingly critical coverage any potential papabile seems to attract, there may be a real risk fo…