Catholic cardinals in a closed-door meeting ahead of the election of a new Pontiff want to be briefed on a secret report into leaks about alleged corruption and mismanagement in the Vatican, a senior source said yesterday.

More than 140 cardinals began preliminary meetings to sketch a profile for the next Pope following the shock abdication of Pope Benedict last month and to ponder who among them might be best to lead a church beset by crises.

The meetings, called “general congregations”, are open to cardinals regardless of age, although only those under 80 will later enter a conclave to elect a Pope from among themselves.

The source, a prelate over 80 who was present at yesterday’s meetings, said the contents of the report came up during the morning session but declined to say if the requests to be briefed were made in the formal sessions or informal coffee break discussions or both.

“They want to be briefed on the report,” said the Cardinal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “But it is a very long report and technically it is secret”.

The report was prepared for Pope Benedict, who is now Pope Emeritus, by three elderly cardinals who investigated the so-called “Vatileaks” scandal last year.

The three are attending the preliminary meetings but will not enter the conclave.

Paolo Gabriele, the Pope’s butler, was convicted of stealing personal papal documents and leaking them to the media. The documents alleged corruption and infighting over the running of its bank. Gabriele was jailed and later pardoned by Pope Benedict.

Pope Benedict decided to make the report available only to his successor but one Vatican official said the three elderly cardinals who wrote it could “use their discernment to give any necessary guidance” to fellow cardinals without violating their pact of secrecy about its specific contents.

Specific matters discussed at the preliminary meetings are covered by secrecy.

Cardinals will be using the meetings this week to get to know each other and decide when to start a conclave to choose a man to lead the 1.2 billion-member Church.

The Vatican is aiming to have a new Pope elected next week and officially installed soon after so he can preside over the Holy Week ceremonies starting with Palm Sunday on March 24 and culminating in Easter the following Sunday.

High on the agenda at the general congregations will be the daunting challenges facing the next Pontiff, including the sexual abuse crisis in the church and the Vatileaks scandal. The cardinals will hold one or two meetings a day.

The date of the conclave will be decided after all the 115 cardinal electors arrive. Twelve still had not arrived yesterday. It is widely ex­pected to start next week.

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