Richard Owen, Rome Correspondent of The Times, says that despite being a leading candidate, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Dean of the College of Cardinals, may not want to be the next pope.

"This morning’s Mass was another of the colourful pageants that the Vatican does so well, in the same fashion as John Paul’s funeral, though on a slightly smaller scale.

"The cardinals were applauded warmly as the filed into St Peter’s, particularly Camillo Ruini, the Vicar of Rome, and Carlo Maria Martini, the former archbishop of Milan. Signor Ruini has publicly supported the conservative Cardinal Ratzinger, who conducted the Mass, while Signor Martini is seen as a standard bearer for the progressives.

"Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, the popular archbishop of Honduras, was also very warmly welcomed. He is emerging as the media favourite because he has a strong personality, plays the saxophone and has a pilot’s licence that he regularly uses. He would be a charismatic crowd-pleaser in the mould of John Paul II, but as one cardinal quipped recently, ‘the media do not choose the Pope’.

"Cardinal Ratzinger’s homily this morning was tough and laid down the doctrinal orthodoxy to the cardinals. It underlined that over the past decade, the church has had to deal with various schools of thought. As the ‘doctrinal enforcer’, he strongly opposes moral relativism – the idea that one set of values are as valid as others. It was a strong message to the cardinals that they had to toe the line when choosing the next Pope.

"But Cardinal Ratzinger’s homily – reminding the cardinals of their duty to hold the line against heretical schools of thought - did not sound to me like a campaigning speech at all. It was classic Ratzinger, but he not appear to have yet given up the mantle of Vatican enforcer. I could be wrong, but the 78-year-old may well prefer to keep this role than become the leader of the universal church.

"At 4.30pm Rome time, the cardinals will file into the Sistine Chapel, and this parade will be televised for the first time. Each one will be required to swear an oath of secrecy and there will be a short homily. Only then will they decide whether to take a first vote today or wait until tomorrow. It could well be that after the procedural issues are dealt with, there will be no time remaining."

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