Cardinals to vote on date for papal election

A cardinal from the Philippines, another from Austria and an archbishop from Ireland would be the "least worst" choices to be the next pope, according to a group representing the victims of abuse by priests.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, released its list Thursday as cardinals held meetings at the Vatican in a prelude to the selection of the next pontiff.

The three are Cardinal Luis Tagle of the Philippines; Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Austria; and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, Ireland.

Martin is not a cardinal, but SNAP noted that a man need not be a cardinal to be elected pope. Historically, the role has gone to cardinals, however.

CNN Vatican analyst John Allen, also a correspondent for National Catholic Reporter, wrote last month that Schoenborn "certainly has the right pedigree for the job."

And Tagle has "been a leader in pushing the church in Asia to take an aggressive stance on clerical abuse," Allen said in a series he wrote on the papal contenders.

Tagle would normally be considered too young for the role, but Benedict XVI's almost unprecedented resignation might have changed the way the cardinals think, he said.

Wednesday, SNAP named its "Dirty Dozen" list of men it judged would be the worst candidates for pope because of their handling of, or comments on, past allegations of child sex abuse against clergy.

The scandal has shaken global confidence in the church in recent years.

A Pew Research Center poll published Wednesday indicates that U.S. Catholics see it as the biggest issue the Vatican faces.

Asked what they think is the most important problem, 34% of the U.S. Catholics questioned mention sex abuse, pedophilia or some other reference to the scandal. No other problem garnered more than 10% of the responses.

A report for Italian news magazine Panorama on Thursday claims that the church hierarchy was alerted to the problem decades ago, in 1965 but buried the warnings.

'Cardinals to vote on conclave date'

The Catholic cardinals gathered in Rome will vote later Friday on the date for the secret election, or conclave, to elect a new pope, a Vatican spokesman said.

The conclave is not expected to begin before Monday but could start some time next week, said the Rev. Federico Lombardi.

There will be 115 cardinal-electors taking part in the conclave, the Vatican confirmed. Only those younger than 80 are eligible to vote.

U.S. cardinals muzzled?

Italian media reports Thursday focused on the Vatican's move to end the news briefings held this week by American cardinals, amid concerns over leaks of confidential discussions among the cardinals.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, director of media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote in a blog post that the decision Wednesday came after a media report in Italian daily La Stampa, which gave details of who had said what.

"I compared the shutdown to the old Catholic school style of one kid talks and everyone stays after school," she wrote, saying a similar thing happened before the last conclave in 2005.

"We'll continue briefings, but without cardinals, to help U.S. media especially cover this exciting moment in the church," Walsh added.

It's been a week since Benedict XVI became the first pontiff in six centuries to resign from the role. Popes usually serve until their death.

With Easter around the corner, many inside the Catholic Church would like to see a new pontiff in place to lead ceremonies.