At the Vatican, as the Catholic cardinals chose Tuesday (March 12) to begin the papal conclave, more groundwork was laid this week for the selection of the new pope. As the cardinals conferred with each other in Rome, in Washington at a recent event at the Catholic University of America members of a panel of distinguished lay Catholics were asked to name the qualities they think a new pope should have. One panelist was Miguel Diaz, the most recent U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.

Watch managing editor Kim Lawton’s preview from Rome of the papal conclave.