Catholic cardinals yesterday said they wanted time to get to know each other before choosing the next Pope and meanwhile would seek more information on a secret report on alleged corruption within the Vatican.
Nearly 150 cardinals held a second day of preliminary meetings, known as “general congregations”, to sketch a profile for the next pontiff following the shock abdication of Pope Benedict last month.
Under Church law they have until March 20 to start a conclave to choose a new Pope from among 115 of them who are under the age of 80, but they can decide to start it earlier.
While many observers had expected the conclave to begin as early as this Sunday, there have been increasing indications that the cardinals may need more time to ponder who among them might be best to lead a Church beset by crises.
“Many cardinals are concerned that, if there is not enough time spent in the general congregations, that once we get into the conclave it could drag on,” Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley said.
“I think the preference would be to have enough discussions previously that when people go to the conclave they already have a sort of pretty good idea of whom they are going to vote for at that point,” he told a news conference.
The preliminary meetings are taking place as the crisis involving sexual abuse of children by priests and inappropriate behaviour among adult clerics continues to haunt the church and has rarely been out of the headlines.
One elector – Cardinal Keith O’Brien – quit as Edinburgh archbishop last week and pulled out of attending the conclave because of accusations that he behaved inappropriately with priests and seminarians in the past.
He at first denied the allegations but on Sunday issued a statement apologising that “my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal”.
Cardinals will be using the daily preliminary meetings, which began on Monday, to get to know each other and decide when to start the closed-door conclave to choose a man to lead the 1.2 billion-member Church at one of most difficult periods in its history.
“This is the most important decision that some of us will ever make and we need to give it the time that’s necessary,” Cardinal O’Malley said.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston said: “It takes as long as it takes... no one wants to rush this if it can’t be rushed.”
The prelates, however, have said that if at all possible they would like to be home for Palm Sunday, which falls on March 24, meaning that a new Pope would have to be elected and installed at a separate ceremony before then.
There was no indication when the cardinals would decide on the starting date of the conclave.
The Sistine Chapel, where it will be held, was closed to the public yesterday to allow workmen to prepare the Michelangelo-frescoed room for the gathering, disappointing many tourists who had come to Rome to see it.