Cardinals at Vatican for second day of pre-conclave meetings

2013-03-05 80

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Cardinals began meeting at the Vatican for a second day on Tuesday (March 5) for another round of talks to find a new pope.

The Vatican appears to be aiming to have a new pope elected next week and officially installed several days later so he can preside over the Holy Week ceremonies starting with Palm Sunday on March 24 and culminating in Easter the following Sunday.

The general congregations, closed-door meetings in the interregnum between a papacy and the conclave to choose the next one, will now only be held in the morning.

The list of challenges facing the crisis-hit Church could take weeks to debate, but the Vatican seems keen to have only a week of talks so the 115 cardinal electors, those under 80, can enter the Sistine Chapel for the conclave next week.

High on the agenda will be Church governance after last year's Vatileaks scandal exposed corruption and rivalries in the Vatican's Curia bureaucracy. Cardi