Cardinals to begin conclave to elect new Pope

VATICAN CITY, Monday (Reuters) - Roman Catholic cardinals begin the daunting task on Monday of finding a man to fill the shoes of Pope John Paul in a unique election mixing ancient ritual with ultra-modern technology.

In a process dating back to medieval times, 115 "Princes of the Church" from 52 countries will be locked into the Vatican on Monday afternoon after a public Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

They will emerge from the conclave and communicate with the outside world again only when they have chosen the first new pontiff of the third Christian millennium and the 264th successor to St. Peter.

If the conclave resembles previous ones, the cardinals will need several days and repeated votes in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel to reach the required majority.

Whoever they choose will have to try to make his mark in the shadow of one of the most dynamic papacies in history.

"I pity the new pope because they are bound to make comparisons. He could be a saint but he will find it very difficult to do his job ... because John Paul made such a huge impression," said Austrian Helga Pasquale Niederkofler after attending Mass in Rome on Sunday.

The conclave vote appears wide open with no real indication of who will emerge as the new leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics.