Cardinals begin countdown to conclave

VATICAN CITY- Roman Catholic cardinals on Monday started their last week of preparations before sealing themselves off from the world in a secret conclave entrusted with the task of choosing a successor to John Paul II.

After a break on Sunday, the cardinals resumed their preparatory meetings, known as "general congregations" open to all cardinals currently in Rome.

On April 18, 115 of those under 80 will enter the conclave to choose a new pope from among their ranks in what is arguably the most difficult conclave to face the 1.1 billion member Roman Catholic Church in modern times.

Some indications of the qualities needed in the next pope have filtered through in sermons held by cardinals in the daily memorial Masses held since the funeral, which started the nine days of mourning in the Church.

At Sunday's mass, Rome Cardinal Camillo Ruini said John Paul had been able to "unite nations and avoid a clash of civilisations." The day before, an Italian cardinal spoke of John Paul's great sense of humour.

There was great expectation for Monday's homily by Cardinal Bernard Law, who is saying the fourth memorial mass in his capacity as "archpriest" of one of Rome's major basilicas.

Law was forced to resign as archbishop of Boston in 2002 over a scandal in which priests known to have sexually abused minors were moved from parish to parish instead of being sacked. Protest groups have planned demonstrations outside St. Peter's Square during the mass.

Cardinals will vote once on April 18 and twice a day thereafter until one candidate has reached a majority of two thirds plus one.

The man they choose will have to fill the almost impossible job of following one of history's most dynamic papacies. They all know that his every move will be compared to John Paul.

After speaking to reporters for a week after the Pope's death, the cardinals have agreed to a self-imposed gag order.

Andrew Greeley, sociologist and religious affairs commentator from Chicago, sharply criticised the cardinals' silence in the period before the conclave.

"Cardinal (Joseph) Ratzinger is trying to run the pre-conclave period like he runs the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Catholic lay people have a right to know what's going on," he told Reuters.

No favourite has emerged, but there have been loud calls for the pope to come from the developing world, where Catholicism's numbers are greatest and where it is growing fastest.

"Latin America deserves great attention from the Church. We provide half of the world's Catholics and we also have many poor," Hondura President Ricardo Maduro was quoted as telling an Italian radio station on Monday, adding Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga was "the right man."

Some faithful are clamouring for an African pope, saying such a man on the throne of St. Peter could draw attention to the continent's many problems just as John Paul focused the world on Eastern Europe before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

But it is precisely those kinds of opinions that the cardinals say they would rather not hear anymore.

At Sunday's mass Ruini urged people to contain their curiosity and let God do his work.

"Let's not be uselessly and all too humanly curious to know who he is ahead of time," he said in a homily at the third of nine daily Masses of mourning for John Paul.

Thousands of people still flock to St. Peter's each day in the hope of praying at John Paul's burial site, which is expected to open to the public in the next few days.

- REUTERS