Angelo Carconi / AP

Pope Francis is driven through the crowd in in St. Peter's Square for his inaugural Mass at the Vatican on Tuesday, Mar. 19, 2013. Francis took his name from Francis of Assisi, who was known for his concern for the poor and downtrodden, and for a 13th century encounter with the Sultan of Egypt.

Catholics and Muslims have come a long way since the Crusades, but during the tenure of Pope Benedict XVI, relations between the world’s two largest religions hit the skids.

So it was with relief and renewed optimism that prominent Muslims and interfaith advocates cheered the newly anointed Pope Francis.

"We are hoping for better relations with the Vatican after the election of the new pope," Mahmud Azab, adviser for inter-faith affairs at Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning in Cairo, told AFP. "We congratulate the Church of St. Peter and all Catholics around the world."

From the start, Benedict put less energy in reaching out to other religions than his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who blazed the trail for Catholic relations with Muslims and other religions through his tireless travels and scores of meetings and prayer with imams around the world.

Under John Paul, the Vatican launched the World Day of Prayer for Peace in 1986, which was at first a hard sell for prominent Muslims, said Father Thomas Michel, who has a PhD in Islamic studies and headed John Paul’s office for Islam for 13 years.

"By the second one [World Day of Prayer for Peace in 1993] Muslims could see he didn’t have any other agenda — that he wasn’t going to get them all together and convince them to become Christians," said Michel, now a professor of Christian-Muslim relations at Georgetown University.

"By the time of the third, in 2002, there were so many leaders of Muslims organizations there wasn’t room for them on the podium… I don’t think Muslims changed so much, but what changed was the level of trust."

Mohammed brought 'evil and inhuman'
But when Benedict gave a controversial speech at the University of Regensburg in Germany in 2006 — a little more than a year after his installation as pope — he sparked fury across the Muslim world by quoting a Byzantine Emperor as saying, "show me just what Mohammed brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman."

Channi Anand / AP file

Muslim protestors rally in Jammu, India on Sept. 15, 2006 after Pope Benedict XVI made a controversial speech at the University of Regensburg in Germany.

In response to the pope's comments — though some argued they had been misunderstood — 138 leading Muslim scholars from around the world signed an open letter of protest to Benedict. In some countries there were protests and attacks on churches.

"It was a very strained period of the relationship," said John Esposito, professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University.

The Vatican took measures to patch up the fallout from Regensburg speech — which Vatican officials reportedly called "the accident." 

They held formal meetings with the Muslim leaders who had launched a "common word" initiative emphasizing the shared principles at the core of Christian and Islamic scriptures.

In October 2006, Benedict traveled to Turkey, making a symbolic visit to the ornate Blue Mosque in Instanbul where he emphasized his desire for reconciliation between Muslims and Christians.

And in 2009, Benedict traveled to Jordan and visited the site where Jesus was baptized, emphasizing the "common history" of Christianity and Islam. Even so, he stopped short of praying with his Muslim hosts in a mosque, or taking his shoes off to enter the prayer hall.

Dialogue resumed, but the relationship remained cool.

There are some early signs that Pope Francis could pick up where Pope John Paul II left off.

Reports from Argentina citing local Muslim leaders suggest that Francis — formerly Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires — was a friend to the Muslim community.

One report out of the country said that in 2006 Bergoglio spoke out against the Regensburg speech, according to the Daily Telegraph of London.

Quick response to Francis
"Pope Benedict's statements don't reflect my own opinions," he said in a local press interview, according to the report. "These statements will serve to destroy in 20 seconds the careful construction of a relationship with Islam that Pope John Paul II built over the last twenty years."

That report has not been confirmed by NBC News.

But a lot of Muslim optimism about Francis is based simply on hunches about his character.

The initial impression of the pope — as a man who values simplicity, openness, and the ability to connect with all people — is appealing to Muslims, said Esposito.

Slideshow: The election of Pope Francis

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Cardinals from around the world gathered in the Vatican to elect the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

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For the new pope’s installation ceremony, he noted: "They went out of their way to talk about how people of all major faiths are invited. From the other side, it’s interesting to see how quick Muslims were… to say how they look forward to working with him."

He referred to public statements issued by prominent imams as well as larger Muslim civil rights groups including the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

Michel saw the same optimism about Pope Francis in a flood of email from Muslims.

"They are so happy and looking forward to working with him," he said. "He’s coming in as every pope does with a real fund of good will and they are really hoping that he will be someone he can work with."

Building trust and influence
If Francis establishes a relationship of trust with Muslims, it could have impact beyond just warm and fuzzy feelings, some observers believe.

A pope with a new approach could be important in a Muslim-majority country like Pakistan, where minority Christians -- most of them Catholics -- suffer persecution, says Jeff Siddique, a Muslim-American in Seattle who was born in Pakistan.

"If (Pope Francis) can build a relationship with the leadership in Pakistan, he may be able to convince them that protecting the Christians in Pakistan is a good thing to do," he said.

Likewise, he may be able to restart discussions with Al-Azhar University in Egypt, which cut off dialogue with the Vatican in 2011 after Benedict called for greater protections for non-Muslims after a suicide bomber attacked a church in Egypt, killing 23 people. Al-Azhar cut ties over what it said was Benedict’s "repeated treatment of Islam in a negative way."

To have an influence across religions requires a foundation of trust, said Michel.

"When they trust each other they can speak freely," he said. "If people come on as scolds or know-it-alls, they get their backs up and won’t accept it."

For some seeking clues about the pontiff’s position on Christian-Muslim relations, his choice of Francis — after Francis of Assisi — has significance beyond his emphasis on simplicity and concern for the poor and downtrodden.

A 13th century story describes how St. Francis left the camp of the crusaders who were attacking the walled Egyptian city of Damietta, and dared to cross enemy lines to meet with Malik al-Kamil, the sultan of Egypt. He risked being killed, but instead, he had a fruitful conversation with the Muslim leader and left unharmed.

The encounter is played up in newer biographies as a pivotal moment of engagement between the two religions.

"We’re seeing the church interpret Francis in modern times as a bridge," said Paul Moses, author of "The Saint and the Sultan," a 2009 book which explores the encounter. "To Muslims ears, the choice of Francis for a name should sound good," he told Religion News Service.

Did Francis choose this name as an overture to Muslims?

"I’d say that it’s pushing it to say this was a factor," said Michel. Nonetheless, he said other signs favor improving ties — from both sides of the divide.

"I get the feeling of 'let's start over, let's start a new chapter. The last one was bumpy'."

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Polizia Di Stato / AFP - Getty Images, file

An aerial view of St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican. Despite the vast assets of the Roman Catholic Church, the Holy See made a loss of $18.4 million loss in 2011.

VATICAN CITY -- As the Catholic church prepares to choose its second leader in a decade, the world’s eyes are once again focused on the complex and secretive ways of the Vatican.

In mid-March, 117 cardinals will be locked inside its walls until they decide who should next attempt to govern one of humankind’s most enduring, yet bewildering, institutions.

Their new pope must not only provide spiritual leadership to followers in more than 180 countries around the globe, but also reconcile deep divisions within the two-and-a-half square miles of the Vatican itself, on the left bank of Rome’s Tiber river.

In his homily at Mass late Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of “sins against the unity of the Church,” hinting at the office politics of an organization worth at least $8 billion but which features a switchboard operated by nuns.

Each day, some of the Vatican City’s 1,900 lay workers leave the cacophony of traffic-choked Rome and step across the white lines that mark the state boundaries. Inside, they assist up to 2,800 global employees of the Holy See – including cardinals and archbishops – to the sound of choirs and the leading of prayers.

“It’s only a normal workplace if having a Raphael fresco on the office wall is normal,” said George Weigel, NBC News Vatican analyst and author of "Witness to Hope," the best-selling biography of Pope John Paul II.

More than 5 million tourists see inside the Vatican’s grounds and museums every year – almost as many as New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art – but the power lies away from the cameras.

One of the possible candidates for the papal role, Canadian Archbishop John Michael Miller, gave an insight into this very private world.

Alessandra Tarantino / AP

The lights shines from Pope Benedict XVI's apartment overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Tuesday.

“When the main elevator of the Apostolic Palace stops at the third floor, you have two choices: turning to the left, for the pope's private apartment, or to the right, for the offices of the Secretariat of the State,” he wrote in a 1997 article for ‘The Catholic Answer’. “Every day about 200 men and women - bishops, priests, religious and laity- turn to the right. They walk along magnificently frescoed corridors to their modest offices, where they discretely collaborate in the pope's ministry to the Church and the world.”

Although the wealth of the church has been on display throughout history, its financial details are not. Paolo Cipriani - director of The Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), often referred to as the ‘Vatican Bank’ - last year pledged to “lift the veil of secrecy” surrounding the organization. The institute manages $8 billion of the church’s worldwide wealth and investments as well as 33,000 accounts for clergy and parishes, held in euros.

An open day last June was the first occasion in which journalists had been allowed inside its headquarters, inside a medieval defensive tower that once housed the Vatican prisons, newspaper La Stampa reported.

'A pretty lean organization'
It is an environment at once opulent and modest. Despite the vast assets of the Church, the Holy See made a loss of $18.4 million loss in 2011. Its $308 million income from IOR revenues - and supporters including its biggest single donor, the United States – fell short of the $326.4 million cost of running its global missions and operations such as Vatican Radio.

A separate budget for the Vatican City state, which deals with the administration of the church’s "home" in Rome made a $12.4 million profit in 2011, with most of its $113 million coming from tourists at its museums.

“This Dan Brown notion that the church is oozing millions of euros is just not true,” Weigel said. “These incredible buildings are not liquid assets. Most of the money that comes into the church goes straight back out again.

“It is not even the biggest employer locally. Given the number of lay Catholics worldwide – 1.2 billion – the Vatican is a pretty lean organization. Of course, lean does not necessarily mean efficient.”

Confidential documents, stolen by the pope’s former butler and published in 2011 in a scandal known as "Vatileaks," revealed the haphazard and sometimes bizarre nature of the church finances. As well as tens of millions of dollars in small, personal donations from around the world, an Italian chat show host gave 10,000 euros with a note seeking a meeting with Pope Benedict.

The papers also revealed the efforts of Archbishop Carlo Mario Vigano to slash grossly inflated costs such as the $700,000 life-sized nativity scene in the center of St. Peter’s Square, according to a Newsweek feature on the scandal.

Insiders insist there is little sign of modern extravagance inside the Vatican, but the working world is very different to a similarly-sized corporation.

“Some of the technology – the computers, for example – may seem a little backward from a U.S. perspective,” said Father Robert Gahl, associate professor of ethics at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. “There is an esprit de corps which is very motivating. It is a highly professional atmosphere.”

When asked how many people work in the Vatican, 20^th century Pope John XXIII is reported to have replied: “About half."

Gahl said there was a grain of truth in the comment. “Like in any organization, there are some people who are there for the tremendous job security,” he said. “But there are also priests who devote a lot of their lives to their work.”

Alastair Jamieson / NBC News

Vatican City even boasts its own postal service.

Even the more secular aspects of the Vatican, the city state, are complex thanks to its geography. Squeezed into a triangular site in central Rome, the smallest country in the world has grown well outside its original footprint and much of its buildings and offices – including its own hospital – lie outside its boundaries but are granted the same judicial separation from the rest of Italy.

Much of the administration of the Vatican City, which issues its own passports and license plates and has its own postal service – reportedly much more efficient than its Italian counterpart – is carried out by lay workers who must agree to the church’s moral instruction.

“I don’t think they have to be Catholic but I would image that, this being Italy and because of the nature of the job, most people who apply are Catholic,” Gahl said. “I would also think that, when you interview somebody for a job at any non-profit you are likely to choose somebody who shares the same ideals and objectives as the organization.”

One of the first tasks of the new pope will be to try and rein in the Roman Curia - the Byzantine hierarchy of the Holy See, which includes various dicasteries, pontifical councils and secretariats - as well as modernize its practices.

“There is a feeling that Benedict never really got to grips with it at all,” said Weigel. “I think some changes are going to essential for the new pope.”

A dissident Austrian priest, Rev. Helmut Schueller, has spoken out against the ritual of the cardinals' conclave - at which voting papers in the ballot for the new pope are burned to create white smoke - and called for greater openness in the process of selecting a new leader.

"If things were going well, the conclave fathers would at least be going out to the Church grassroots and calling meetings to really hear what the faithful expect," he told Reuters on Wednesday.

However, running the Vatican will require more than just fresh management skills.

“The pope is not so much the head of a corporation, more the CEO of a large non-profit – and that means bringing clarity in direction and teaching,” said Gahl. “Cardinals do not usually subscribe to Harvard Business Review.”

Slideshow: The life of Pope Benedict XVI

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Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. Look back at his life from childhood through his papacy.

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Livio Anticoli/Presidenza del Consiglio via Reuters, file

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI -- seen being greeted by then-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at Rome's Ciampino airport in 2009 -- could hamper Berlusconi's political comeback bid, experts say.

ROME -- The abdication of Pope Benedict XVI is a move of global magnitude, but it is causing even bigger waves in Italy, where some experts believe the blanket media coverage could thwart the political comeback of Silvio Berlusconi.

The disgraced former prime minister is seeking a return to the spotlight by leading a center-right alliance in this month’s elections, triggered by the resignation of his successor, Mario Monti.

Berlusconi’s alliance is behind in the polls, not least because of the impending "bunga bunga" court case, where he is accused of paying for sex with an underage nightclub dancer.

But the 76-year-old billionaire has been catching up with the center-left alliance led by Pier Luigi Bersani, using his media empire to make a string of television appearances – last month clocking up 63 hours of airtime in only 21 days.

That media-led surge could now be stopped as newspapers and television stations focus on the pope’s decision to stand aside – and the speculation about who will take over.

“The election campaign ended at 11:46 a.m. on Monday,” wrote political analyst Luigi Crespi in La Repubblica Tuesday, referring to the moment of Pope Benedict’s announcement.

'Legacy of a moral leader'
He is one of a number of experts who believe the sudden shift in national tone from political concerns to issues of spiritual leadership is likely to hit Berlusconi hardest.

Beppe Severgnini, writing in Corriera della Sera, said the departure of Benedict and the search for his successor would “inevitably fill newspapers, websites, social networks, talk shows and news programs for the next two weeks.”

“And one of the contenders -- no need to say which -- needs all the stage in order to set up the show, and he will not have one,” Severgnini added, in reference to Berlusconi. “A story like this forces you to think about the role, responsibilities, and the legacy of a moral leader.”

That will add to the pressure on Berlusconi, even though his "bunga bunga" trial hearing was this week delayed until March 4 – a week after the parliamentary poll, which takes place on Feb. 24 and 25.

Marcello Sorgi, a columnist for La Stampa newspaper, said the actions of all politicians in Italy would be seen less favorably when compared to the pope’s humility and self-realization that he is no longer physically able to serve his church.

Voters will see the pope’s act as courageous and compare him to "a political class that has been living off its failures for 20 years," Sorgi wrote, according to Agence France Press.

Giovanni Orsina, political commentator and professor of history at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome, said it was “hard to say” if the pope’s resignation would affect the way Catholics vote.

Slideshow: Bye, Bye Berlusconi

Petar Pismestrovic / Kleine Zeitung, Austria, Politic

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“But it certainly will have an impact on whichever candidate is the most hungry for television coverage and who has the most to gain from media exposure – and that is definitely Berlusconi,” he said. “He is the person who needs to use the media the most.”

“I think it is unprecedented for such a big event in the Catholic church to happen so close to the climax of an election campaign like this,” he added.

Orsina pointed out that opinion polls are banned in Italy for the final two weeks of the campaign, making it hard to measure how the pope’s decision has affected voting intentions.

In November 2011, Berlusconi was forced to resign as prime minister after it became clear that his denial that the country was in an economic crisis was bringing Italy to the brink of disaster.

In October last year, he was sentenced to four years in prison for an epic offshore tax fraud, put off pending appeals to higher courts.

He was also placed at a distance by the Vatican, which grew concerned that his personal life did not reflect his political rhetoric of moral leadership.

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Pope says retirement is for 'good of the church'

In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals, center, talks to other cardinals after Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation Monday at the Vatican.

The process of electing a new pope is clear, but few know what exactly goes on behind the Vatican’s closed doors. Pope Benedict XVI's announcement on Monday morning that he will leave office at the end of February may have taken everyone by surprise, but with the Vatican promising a new pope by Easter, events are likely to move quickly, experts say.

The new pope will be elected by the College of Cardinals, a body of around 120 men. They will vote at a special meeting, called a Papal Conclave, after Benedict’s resignation on Feb. 28. Those under the age of 80 will be eligible to vote in ballots at the Sistine Chapel. The vote is secret and conducted amid tight security.

L'Osservatore Romano via AP

Cardinals congregate in April 2005 in the Bologna Hall at the Vatican ahead of their election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI.

Little is known about how cardinals reach their decision. Campaigning is not allowed, but a subtle form of electioneering still happens. Prior to the Papal Conclave, the cardinals meet in congregations to discuss the succession among themselves. Quite often they divide according to what languages they speak.

The question they are certain to ask: What type of pope does the Catholic Church need? The answers will vary according to whether they come from conservative or more liberal wings of the church. At this point groups will form around candidates, but in a subtle way. 

John Wilkins, former editor of international Catholic newspaper The Tablet, says candidates emerge without personal preferences being stated aloud.

“Cardinals are pretty shrewd,” he said. “They keep their cards close to their chest. They will make up their own minds.”

So what factors will the cardinals consider? Nationality may be important. There has never been a non-European leader of the church despite the continent being home to just a quarter of the world’s Catholics. In contrast, just over half of all Catholics live in Latin America.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, was a serious contender when Joseph Ratzinger was chosen in 2005.

But nationality may not be such a pressing issue for the voting cardinals as it is for outsiders -- half of the cardinals are from Europe.

Instead, Vatican watchers think the cardinals will be looking for a strong leader. One criticism repeatedly leveled at Benedict is that he failed to get to grips with the papal bureaucracy, the Roman Curia.

Catholic scholar Michael Walsh says the cardinals will be looking for a leader who can govern the church.

“They need someone to sort it out. The only person who will work is a Curia official.” In other words: a Vatican insider.

A power base in the Vatican is certainly important. Ratzinger was one of the most influential men in the Roman Curia before becoming pope and was seen as Pope John Paul II’s right-hand man.

Although he will not be voting for his successor, there is little doubt Benedict’s influence will endure: He has filled the College of Cardinals with elderly, conservative European men -- just like himself.

Slideshow: The life of Pope Benedict XVI

Javier Barbancho / AFP - Getty Images

Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. Look back at his life from childhood through his papacy.

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New pope doesn't mean new doctrine, experts say

Who's next? 8 cardinal contenders who could succeed Pope Benedict

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Pope Benedict XVI's abdication is unlikely to lead to big changes on major issues, experts say.

Some Catholic progressives view the abdication of Pope Benedict XVI as an opportunity for the church to usher in a more liberal era, but many Vatican watchers don't see big changes on the horizon.

NBC News' Vatican expert, George Weigel, said hot-button issues like women in the priesthood, contraception and abortion won't be game-changers in the selection of a successor because all the serious contenders will have the same solidly traditional positions.

"The notion that a papal transition is like getting a new president or governor or mayor is a false analogy," Weigel said.

Rocco Palmo, who writes the blog "Whispers in the Loggia," agrees.

"The teaching of the church is the teaching of the church and it's not a pope’s prerogative to change it," he said.

Weigel contends the new pope won't be under any serious pressure to loosen the doctrine because the factions of the church that "agitate these questions are dying."

Courtesy FutureChurch

Chris Schenk, executive director of FutureChurch, says there's the possibility of change with the selection of a new pope, but not everyone agrees.

"In the United States, 250,000 people came into the Catholic Church last Easter," he said. "Those people are not embracing 'Catholic Lite.' They're embracing the new Catholic evangelism."

Sister Chris Schenk, executive director of the progressive FutureChurch coalition, said her hope is that a progressive will break away from the pack and that one day soon there could be married priests or female deacons.

"Whether it happens in this next papacy or the one after that, I don't know, but I think it will happen," she said.

She pointed to Pope John XXIII, who was not expected to bring great change when he was elected in the 1958 but later opened the Second Vatican Council, which led to modern reforms.

Palmo, though, said Vatican II didn't alter the substance of church teachings, just the "articulation of it," such as allowing Mass to be said in the local language instead of Latin, and involving more lay people in the liturgy.

"There's style and there's substance, and when we're talking substance, no change," he said.

Weigel said that when the conclave begins, the papal candidates will likely be evaluated on how well they can handle a set of less polemical challenges:

— Europe's Catholic population is declining, and the College of Cardinals will be looking for a leader who can encourage "off-brand" charismatic renewal movements that are gaining strength outside the parishes, but without letting them "careen off into the bizarre," Weigel said.

— The new pope will need the tools to promote religious freedom internationally and confront efforts to equate "biblical morality" with intolerance, Weigel said.

— The Roman Curia, which is essentially the bureaucracy of the Holy See, is in desperate need of adminstrative reform, Weigel said. The cardinals could decide that should be the top priority and choose a new pope who can get the job done, "someone who can tackle it themselves or will understand they need to hire a cardinal to be secretary of state and make it work," he said.

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The bookmakers in Europe already have their favorites, but the world won't know who will succeed Pope Benedict XVI until that puff of white smoke is sent up the chimney of the conclave room next month.

The College of Cardinals has no shortage of factors to consider in picking the next pope -- from age to geography -- and no dearth of potential candidates.

Here are some of the princes of the church whose names have emerged from Vatican watchers since Monday's surprise abdication announcement:

Paolo Bona / Reuters

Archbishop of Milan Angelo Scola, attending a funeral in 2012, could be a front-runner to be the next pope.

Cardinal Angelo Scola: He's the archbishop of Milan, a good launching pad for popes, and the former Patriarch of Venice, which has also produced many a papal front-runner. Scola, 71, has close ties to the conservative Communion and Liberation movement, is a champion of immigrants' right and has been active in outreach to the Muslim world. Vatican expert John Allen has written of Scola: "If you like Benedict XVI, you’ll love Scola; even if you don’t, you’ll find it hard not to be charmed."

Cardinal Marc Ouellet: Former archbishop of Quebec, he heads the Congregation of Bishops, a power center. Ouellet, 68, speaks six languages, spent a decade as a missionary in Colombia and has strong ties to Latin and South America. He's considered conservative and made headlines in 2010 when he said abortion was a "moral crime," even in cases of rape. In a 2011 interview, he laughed off the idea of becoming pontiff, saying the workload and responsibility "would be a nightmare."

Ralph Orlowski / Getty Images, file

Cardinal Marc Ouellet celebrating Mass in 2012.

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri: Born in Argentina to Italian parents, Sandri was No. 2 in the Vatican Secretary of State's office under Pope John Paul II and now serves as prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. A longtime Vatican diplomat, Sandri, 69, is well-respected but seen by some as more of a top-notch administrator than a theological leader. 

Stefano Relandini / Reuters

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi looks on at Palm Sunday mass in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican.

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi: The Italian-born president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Ravasi, 70, is hugely popular through his Scripture lessons on TV and radio. On a crusade to keep the church relevant, he blogs, quotes Amy Winehouse on Twitter, and criticizes priests for boring sermons. An archaeologist by training, he's a brainy biblical scholar who is seen as a theological moderate.

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco: The archbishop of Genoa is well-connected, having served twice as the president of the Italian bishop's conference. A baker's son who says he knew he wanted to be a priest in elementary school, Bagnasco, 70, is considered a conservative force in the church. He was the target of death threats in 2007 after comments opposing same-sex unions and in 2011 he launched a thinly veiled attack on scandal-ridden Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and other politicians, referring to them as "sad and hollow." 

Max Rossi / Reuters, file

Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana arriving for a Mass at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican in 2005.

 Cardinal Peter Turkson: The first Ghanaian cardinal, he's president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Vatican’s point man on Catholicism in Africa. An energetic 64 years old, Turkson is considered to be more moderate than some other contenders but hardly a radical. Asked about the spread of AIDS in Africa, he said abstinence was a better solution than condoms. A couple of years ago, he said the first black pope would have a "rough time" and he wasn't bucking for the job.

Cardinal Odilo Scherer: Born in Brazil to parents of German extraction, Scherer's big advantage is geography; he hails from the region that is home to half the world's Catholics. Considered a moderate, the 63-year-old serves as the archbishop of Sao Paulo and has spots in two key Vatican groups, the Congregation for the Clergy and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization. 

Cardinal Timothy Dolan: The head of the archdiocese of New York is one of the Vatican's most popular figures -- charismatic, camera-ready and conservative. As head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, he hasn't shied from away from political fights, taking on the Obama administration over contraception. But Dolan, 63, has only been a cardinal for a year.

Mark Lennihan / AP

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan speaks to the press in his residence after the announcement that Pope Benedict XVI will abdicate.

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Lucas Jackson / Reuters

A statue of St. Kateri Tekakwitha in Auriesville, New York, seen on Friday.

VATICAN CITY - She was known as Lily of the Mohawks, or the Pocahontas of the Catholic Church. But on  Sunday, Kateri Tekakwitha went down in history as the first Native American saint.

Born more than 300 years ago in the Mohawks village of Ossernion - today Ausierville, forty miles from Albany NY - she was one of seven people canonized by Pope Benedict XVI Sunday in an open-air ceremony held in Saint Peter’s Square. 

One of the remaining six was also American: Mother Marianne Cope, a 19th century Franciscan nun who cared for leprosy patients in Hawaii.

Kateri had a short life – she died at 24 – and yet, as for most saints, her devotion to Christianity, sacrifices and “heroic virtue” were so inspirational that her legacy survived for generations.

Alessandra Tarantino / AP

Pope Benedict XVI kisses the altar as he celebrates a canonization ceremony, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday.

Her mother was a Christian Algonquin woman who was captured during a raid and given as wife to a Mohawks tribal member. She was born in the middle of the 17th century, a time of infighting between rival American tribes, deadly diseases and colonization. And a time when French Jesuit priests preached in the area, trying to convert locals to Christianity.

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Kateri was only four years old when a smallpox epidemic spread among the Mohawks tribe. Her parents and younger brother were killed and although she survived she was left with permanent scars on her face and an impaired vision. The Jesuit priests were held accountable for having brought the disease, and three of them were slaughtered.

Tiziana Fabi / AFP - Getty Images

A faithful wearing Indian headress attends a special mass to name seven new saints in St Peter's square at Vatican on Sunday.

And yet, at the age of 20, Kateri swapped the Totem for the Crucifix.

She converted to Catholicism after living close to French Jesuit priests, something her family and village saw as a betrayal for siding up with colonizers. She soon became a pariah in her own tribe after refusing to marry a Mohawk man, and was forced to leave the village to practice freely her new faith. She walked hundreds of miles to Quebec, Canada, to join a community of Christian women, and took a vow of lifetime chastity.

Soon her devotion led to self-inflicted painful penances. She is believed to have walked barefoot in show, for whipping herself bloody with reeds, praying hours in an unheated chapel on her bare knees on a cold stone floor or for sleeping on a bed of thorns.

In the end, the punishing penances are believed to have contributed to the weakening of her health, until her premature death at 24 years old. And it was immediately after her death, the legend goes, that it became clear she would be on her way to sainthood. Her smallpox scars, witnesses claimed, miraculously disappeared minutes after her death.

Although the petition for her canonization was filed in 1884, she was only blessed – the first step to become a saint – by Pope John Paul II in 1980.

The miracle that sealed her sainthood came in 2006, when Jake Finkbonner, then a 5-year old boy from Ferndale, WA, miraculously recovered from a flash-eating bacteria, allegedly through Kateri’s intercession. Jake contracted Necrotizing fasciitis, a potentially deadly infection, after cutting his lip on a baseball field. In a matter of days, his condition became so critical his parents gave him his last rites and discussed donating his organs.

When medical help seemed hopeless, his father Donny, a Catholic member of the native American Lummi tribe, turned to Kateri, already an icon in the local catholic community and the subject of many stories he heard as a child. His congregation prayed Kateri and his mother even placed a small relic, a small piece of Tekakwitha’s wrist bone, on his body.  Soon after, Jake recovered.

On his website, Jake also remembers the role played by doctors: “Please don't confuse the issue which is that my survival is a miracle”, he writes.  “We thank the doctors at Children's Hospital for all that they did to save my life.  I wouldn't be here without them”.

The canonization of Kateri has been welcomed with mixed feelings in the 2.5 million-strong Native American community. While most of the 680,000 catholic Native Americans are thrilled to finally have their own saint and icon, others still resent the role of Catholicism during the colonial era and the way it affected the indigenous traditions, culture and customs. 

Some traveled to Rome to see the ceremony. Dressed in a traditional Indian Squaw brown dress and braided hair, Valery Moran had come from Saskatchewan, Canada, to support her hero. “I am honored to witness the canonization of our first aboriginal saint”, she told NBC News.

"She is my role model, I named my baby after her. My baby is called Kateri."

Bill Volker, a falconer and sole representative of the Comanche Nation, had mixed feelings about the canonization. "It’s bittersweet, but I am delighted. It’s the right direction after all these years,” he told NBC News in St. Peter’s Square. “Our relationship with the all churches have not always been the best in the Americas, but I think this heralds a new day for us”. 

The Vatican's complicated saint-making procedure requires that the Vatican certify a "miracle" was performed through the intercession of the candidate — a medically inexplicable cure that can be directly linked to the prayers offered by the faithful. One miracle is needed for beatification, a second for canonization. 

The five other new saints are: Jacques Berthieu, a 19th century French Jesuit who was killed by rebels in Madagascar, where he had worked as a missionary; Giovanni Battista Piamarta, an Italian who founded a religious order in 1900 and established a Catholic printing and publishing house in his native Brescia; Carmen Salles Y Barangueras, a Spanish nun who founded a religious order to educate children in 1892; and Anna Schaeffer, a 19th century German lay woman who became a model for the sick and suffering after she fell into a boiler and badly burned her legs. The wounds never healed, causing her constant pain.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Stefano Rellandini / Reuters

Pope Benedict XVI arrives to conduct mass to open the year of faith at the Vatican October 11, 2012.

Stefano Rellandini / Reuters

Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives to conduct mass.

Bishops walk in a solemn procession through St Peter's Square as they arrive for a mass led by the pontiff.

Bishops from around the world gather for the mass.

Stefano Rellandini / Reuters

A Swiss guard stands before the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI.

Pope Benedict opened a global "Year of Faith" as he conducted mass in St. Peter's Square on Thursday, Agence France Presse reports. The Vatican is celebrating the 50th anniversary of a council that changed the face of Catholicism, as it tries to rekindle the religious fervor of the time amid rising secularism.

A Pew Research Center study released Tuesday found that one in five Americans is religiously unaffiliated, including one in three adults under 30.

Read a transcript of the Pope's homily at The National Catholic Register.

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