VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Preparations for electing Roman Catholicism’s new leader begin in earnest on Monday as the College of Cardinals opens daily talks to sketch an identikit for the next pope and ponder who among them might fit it.

The idea is to have the new pope elected during next week and officially installed several days later so he can preside over the Holy Week ceremonies starting with Palm Sunday on March 24 and culminating in Easter the following Sunday.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Narrowing down lists of about a dozen potential popes to a handful of serious hopefuls will be one of the main tasks of the closed-door meetings that Catholic cardinals begin on Monday.

The lists circulating in public, mostly drawn up by Vatican journalists based on private chats with Catholic prelates, look more credible than some that floated around during the last conclave in 2005, according to Chicago Cardinal Francis George.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – A relaxed and rested Pope Emeritus Benedict read messages from well-wishers and strolled in his retirement palace gardens on Friday as cardinals due to elect his successor planned pre-vote meetings for next week.

The 85-year-old former pope watched televised reports of his departure from the Vatican on Thursday evening, then slept soundly in the papal summer residence Castel Gandolfo, where he will stay for about two months, a Vatican spokesman said.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Roman Catholicism faces a serious challenge from the rising number of people who believe in God but no longer see any need for a church, according to New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

Opinion research shows that some people today have problems “with the very nature and meaning of the church”, Dolan, in Rome to prepare for a conclave to elect a replacement to the retired Pope Benedict, told Reuters in an interview.