It is the start of the conclave today, March 12, as the 115 cardinal electors lock themselves inside Sistine Chapel until they agree who among them would succeed Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

While bettors at Paddy Power believe Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola has the biggest chance of becoming leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics around the world, giving him a 2-1 chance, there is a growing anti-curial and anti-Italian sentiment which could affect his chances of becoming pontiff.

British daily, The Guardian, attributed the negative sentiment to the Vatileaks, which refers to the unauthorised release by Paolo Gabriele, the former pope's butler, of documents that contained details of a gay sex rings in the Holy See and the blackmailing of some of the ring's members.

The result is displeasure among many cardinals at the Roman Curia and the Italian bureaucracy, which dominates and administers the Catholic Church.

The dislike for Italian church leaders, coupled with the failure of the eight-year rule of Pope Benedict to halt the decline of the Catholic faith in Europe, would likely impact the choice of the cardinals in the conclave.

BBC also reported leaks that the cardinals are split into two groups, with one made up of Romans or those who work in the Vatican, and the other made up of outsiders who are pushing for changes in the Curia.

However, the numbers are still in favour of Western cardinals since 60 of them are from Europe and another 14 from North America, despite the declining number of the faithful in these continents and the fast rise in third world nations.

In the final general congregation on Monday, the cardinals played and agreed that they need to elect a pastoral figure who would not only be administrator of the church but could also deal with the scandal caused by paedophile priests who have sexually abused minors.

Despite the available technology, manual voting and counting would take place on Tuesday afternoon. After writing his choice on a piece of paper, each cardinal will slide the folded paper inside an urn while he invokes in Latin that God is his witness.

After all cardinals have voted, all ballots are counted and each ballot that is read will be compiled through a needle and thread which is later knotted.

A two-thirds majority or 77 votes is needed to decide on who would be the next pope.

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