Pope, perhaps, is able to be a friar? (10)
I believe the answer is:
franciscan
'a friar?' is the definition.
(I know that Franciscan is a type of friar)
'pope perhaps is able to' is the wordplay.
'pope perhaps' becomes 'francis' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'is able to' becomes 'can' (if you can do something you are able to do it).
'francis'+'can'='FRANCISCAN'
'be' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for franciscan that I've seen before include "Type of monk" , "One under orders" , "Grey Friar" , "one's in order" , "Devoted Roman Catholic" .)