Close behind are the Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Angelo Scola, at 5-1 and Argentina's Leonardo Sandri, at 7-1.
Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, the newly-appointed Archbishop of Milan, and Cardinal Giacomo Biffi of Bologna are both quoted at 6-1.
Analysts say Europeans are still among the favourites, including the current Archbishop of Milan, Angelo Scola, and Christoph Schoenbron - a former Austrian student of Benedict.
BBC: Pope Benedict 'will not interfere in successor's affairs'
At the moment, one of the leading papabili, or papal contenders, is 71-year-old Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan, a high-profile position in the church.
Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan, heads a foundation to promote Muslim-Christian understanding, and looks after Afghanistan's only Catholic Church as if it were in his diocese.
The leaked papal letters also show that Cardinal Bertone tried unsuccessfully to bluff the then archbishop of Milan into resigning a post that controls the city's Catholic University.
Addressing his congregation on August 15th, Dionigi Tettamanzi, the highly respected archbishop of Milan, did not refer to any specific individuals but said he regretted the way that in Italy the pursuit of individual power and wealth is so often put ahead of the common good.
That brings into the frame candidates who occupy what in the post-John Paul church passes for the middle ground Dionigo Tettamanzi, the archbishop of Milan, Ennio Antonelli, the archbishop of Florence, and Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Vatican department that finds and keeps in line the world's Catholic bishops.
That roster included two of the names that were most frequently being mentioned by the media: Cardinal Ouellet, a former Archbishop of Quebec, and Cardinal Scola of Milan.
Cardinals pushing for a new pope to clean house inside the Curia, the analysts said, are weighing candidates as diverse as Cardinals Angelo Scola of Milan, Timothy Dolan of New York and Marc Ouellet, the former Archbishop of Quebec who ran the department for bishop appointments under Pope Benedict.
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