Cardinals convene in the Vatican as vote preparations begin

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.

They arrived at the gates of the Vatican for gatherings known as general congregations, closed-door meetings in which they will get to know each other and decide when to start a conclave to choose a man to lead the 1.2bn-member Catholic Church.

The Vatican appears to be aiming to have a new pope elected next week and officially installed several days later, so he can preside over the Holy Week ceremonies starting with Palm Sunday on Mar 24 and culminating in Easter the following Sunday.