Apparently even cardinals have over-protective mothers.

Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn is on the short list to be the new pope, but his mother does not support the idea.

Cardinal Schönborn's 92-year-old mother says she hopes her son does not become the new pope because she is afraid she will never see him. She also adds that she believes her son would be too burdened by the papal duties.

"The whole family is afraid that Christoph will be elected pope," Eleonore Schoenborn said in an interview with the Kleine Zeitung newspaper on Tuesday.

Her son, Schönborn, 68, has been touted as a possible choice for the new pope.

The Cardinal's mom mentioned Pope Benedict's farewell speech, in which he emphasized the role of the Pope as belonging entirely to the Church. She said that if her son does, in fact, get selected as the new pope, she will never see him again.

"It is over for me. Then I will not see Christoph ever again because I no longer have the strength to travel to Rome," she explained to the paper.

Even though they live on opposite sides of the country, the possible new pope and his mother meet in Vienna for a couple weeks every year and the Cardinal also makes a point to call her every Saturday.

He does an excellent job leading the Vienna archdiocese, according to his mother, but she feels the Cardinal is not up to snuff to be the new pope. Leading the Catholic church's 1.2 billion members would be too much of a challenge for her Cardinal Schönborn, she said.

"Christoph would not be up to the bitchiness in the Vatican. The intrigues in Vienna are enough for him," said his mother. She also added that her son tends to get really annoyed when people are dishonest.

A conclave of 115 "princes of the church" gathered today in the Vatican to make the final decision, so the world will know soon enough if Cardinal Schönborn really will be the new pope.

The Kleine Zeitung, however, also reported that Schönborn had told his family before the conclave, "Don't get worked up. I certainly won't become pope."

If he is selected, however, we hope his dear old mother will let him come out to play.