video transcript

(ROUGH CUT ONLY - NO REPORTER NARRATION) Cardinals met in the Vatican for a fifth day on Friday (March 8) as they continued to search for the man who will become the next pope. The cardinals have been holding closed-door preparations for the next papal election to ponder who among them could succeed Pope Benedict - who stepped down last week - as leader of the 1.2 billion member Church at one of the most crisis-ridden periods in its history. The Vatican has struggled to contain leaks from the meetings, highlighting a gap between the Catholic Church's traditional secrecy and the 24/7 information age. With its memory stretching back centuries, the Vatican bristles at any attempt to influence the papal vote, something that was once the prerogative of European Catholic powers who could veto candidates not to their liking. But, this culture of secrecy proved fatal in the sexual abuse crises of the past decade as once-cowed victims came forward to denounce predator priests and lawsuits and official probes dug up Church documents proving bishops had covered up for them.