O'Malley was asked if he would continue to wear his brown Capuchin robe if he did become pontiff.

"I have worn this uniform for 40 years and I expect to wear it until I die, and that's because I don't expect to be elected pope," he said.

DiNardo, who lives in Texas, was then asked if he would keep wearing a cowboy hat if he became pope. "That's an 'Alice in Wonderland' question. We're going down the rabbit hole in terms of my being elected pope," he said.

Transfer of power

Benedict announced his intention to step down on February 11 and resigned Thursday, becoming the first pope to do so in almost 600 years. The transfer of papal power has almost always happened after the sitting pope has died.

Normally, the College of Cardinals is not allowed to select a new pontiff until 15 to 20 days after the office becomes vacant. However, Benedict amended the 500-year-old policy to get a successor into place more rapidly.

The cardinals may to be able to do so before March 15, Lombardi has said.

This would give the new pontiff more than a week to prepare for the March 24 Palm Sunday celebrations.

Some gambling houses are offering odds on who will next lead the Catholic Church.

Favorites include the archbishop of Milan, Italy, Cardinal Angelo Scola; Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone of Italy; Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, who would become the first African pontiff since Pope Gelasius I died more than 1,500 years ago; and Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Canada, who would become the first North American pope.

While Benedict has no direct involvement in the selection of his successor, his influence will be felt: He appointed 67 of at least 115 cardinals set to make the decision.

Wounded 'hearts and minds'

One former cardinal who won't participate in the conclave is Keith O'Brien of Scotland, who resigned last month. O'Brien apologized Sunday for sexual impropriety, without specifying any incident.

"To those I have offended, I apologize and ask forgiveness," he said in a statement.

The Vatican refused to answer questions Monday about whether it would discipline O'Brien.

But others did comment.

"It looks as if the incidence of abuse is practically zero right now as far as we can tell, but they are still the victims, and the wound therefore is deep in their hearts and minds very often," Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, told reporters in Rome. "As long as it's with them, it's with all of us. And that will last for a long time, so the next pope has to be aware of this."

Philip Tartaglia, the archbishop of Glasgow and apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, will administer O'Brien's archdiocese until a new appointment is made.

"The most stinging charge which has been leveled against us in this matter is hypocrisy, and for obvious reasons," Tartaglia said Monday night in a sermon at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Glasgow. "I think there is little doubt that the credibility and moral authority of the Catholic Church in Scotland has been dealt a serious blow, and we will need to come to terms with that."

Representatives of a support group for abuse victims, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, called Monday for the cardinals to elect a new pope who is not a Vatican insider.