Cardinals have prayed together for spiritual guidance ahead of a closed-door conclave to choose a pope.

The Catholic leaders will hold a last pre-conclave meeting today to fine-tune a job description for the man they think would be best-suited to lead the troubled Church.

The 115 cardinals who will take part in the election from tomorrow took a day of rest from pre-conclave meetings to celebrate masses in Rome, either in the quiet of private chapels or in the grandeur of Rome's great cathedrals and basilicas.

"The conclave is just around the corner. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit gives the Church a man who can lead her in the footsteps of the great pontiffs of the past 150 years," said Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan at his mass in Rome.

Scola, 71, is considered the leading Italian candidate to succeed Pope Benedict, who cast the 1.2. billion-member Church into uncertainty last month when he became the first pontiff in six centuries to abdicate.

Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley asked God to "enlighten the Church" so the cardinals would choose a pope to confirm everyone in the faith.

"We need to make the right decision," said Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer of Sao Paulo, 63, who is considered Latin America's leading candidate, at his public mass in a small, Baroque church.

At the Vatican, St Peter's Square was eerily quiet without a pope for the second consecutive Sunday. The windows of the papal apartments overlooking the square remained closed.