Cardinals filed into the Vatican for preliminary meetings to sketch a profile for the next pope and ponder who among them might be best to lead a church beset by crises.

The Catholic Church marked its first Sunday in nearly eight years without a papal blessing yesterday, as cardinals gathered to elect a leader of the 1.2bn-member faith in one of the most troubled periods of its history.

Cardinals electing the new pope will be looking for a charismatic but tenacious man capable of reuniting a fractious Church, stamping down on scandals, and reigniting faith among the young.

The head of one of the world's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese and thought to be a leading Latin American contender to succeed Pope Benedict XVI said neither nationality nor age should matter in picking the next pontiff.

FOLLOWING the pope’s stunning announcement, the time for the Catholic Church to elect its first non-European leader is approaching — and it could be a Latin American.