Cardinals' meetings begin with business, then look toward choosing pope

March 2, 2013: The Cardinals of the Catholic Church from around the world were to begin their meetings at the Vatican on March 4, and while onlookers are focused on who may be the next pope, the cardinals have business to deal with.

Honduran Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, the archbishop of Tegucigalpa, and president of Caritas Internationalis, said the general congregations begin with the actual business of running the church during the extraordinary period when there is no pope.

While the cardinals do not have to plan and set a budget for a funeral and burial -- which past general congregations have had to do after the death of a pope -- there still is a "sede vacante" budget to approve and the formal authorizing of sede vacante stamps and coins.

In the general congregation, the cardinals set the date for the beginning of the conclave.

The cardinals also begin examining together and in depth the rules for the conclave and for electing a new pope, Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga told Catholic News Service on Friday. They invite experts in canon law to join them and give advice if some points are unclear or in dispute.

Only after they deal with practical business, he said, will they begin discussing the main challenges facing the church.

In 2005, he said, they had broad discussions, then broke up into small groups, according to continent, "so we could define better the challenges" particular to their region. "I believe we will do the same" this time, the cardinal said.

Asked if there also are secret meetings in backrooms and restaurants before the conclave, he said: "These are stories. I never had those kinds of meetings during the last conclave. It's a different thing trying to elect a pope than vote for a candidate of a (political) party. We, instead of thinking of candidates, we think of the main challenges, the main problems, and then try to think, in prayer, who can be the best-suited person for facing those challenges and trying to help the church."