The Roman Catholic cardinals today set Tuesday for the start of the conclave that will elect the new pope.
By setting the date, according to the Associated Press agency, the cardinals have finished discussions about the current problems of the church and the best candidate who can lead them in the coming period.
Events on Tuesday will begin with a morning mass in St. Peter's Basilica, after which the first vote will take place at noon.
In the past 100 years, no conclave lasted longer than five days. The gathering of cardinals to elect a pope got its name from the Latin phrase "cum clave" (under lock and key) because they used to lock the cardinals in order to choose the head.
A two-thirds majority, or 77 votes out of 115 assembled cardinals, is required for the election of the pope. So far, there does not appear to be a front-runner to succeed Benedict XVI, and discussions over the past week indicate sharp divisions among cardinals over key issues facing the Catholic Church.
American Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is considered a contender for the Pope, wrote in a blog today that most of the discussions of the cardinals concerned prayer and teaching of the Catholic faith, maintenance of Catholic schools and hospitals, protection of families and the unborn, as well as support for priests.
"These are the 'big questions'. You may find it hard to believe, since the rumors are that we only talk about corruption in the Vatican, sexual abuse, money. Did these topics come up? Yes! Do they dominate? No!" , Dolan wrote.
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