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Cardinals hold final talks amid debate over manager or pastoral pope

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VATICAN CITY (AP) - The cardinals taking part in the papal conclave have offered widely differing views of what they want in a pope.

The 115 voting cardinals held their final closed-door debate Monday over whether the Roman Catholic church needs more of a manager to clean up the Vatican's bureaucratic mess or a pastor to inspire the 1.2 billion faithful in times of crisis.

There is no clear front-runner and no sense that a single man has what it takes to fix the church's many problems.

However, speculation has begun to focus on Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola and Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Scherer. Scola is favored by cardinals hoping to shake up the Vatican bureaucracy. Scherer is a favorite of Vatican-based insiders who want to maintain the status quo.

Father Thomas Reese, Vatican analyst for the National Catholic Reporter, says the last two papal conclaves have elected "the smartest man in the room." He says now might be a good time to elect a pope who can listen to the smartest people in the church.

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