One of Pope Benedict XVI’s final actions in office is coming as a surprise to the world’s 1.1 billion catholics.  He amended Vatican rules to allow the conclave to select his successor to begin much sooner than expected.

Previously, the College of Cardinals had to wait 15 days after the end of a pope’s term to meet and begin the selection process, which probably had a lot to do with the realities of gathering Cardinals from all over the world before the days of jet travel.  That waiting period is now gone.  The Conclave starts as soon as the Cardinals want to start.

Some see this as an Easter rush:  Under the old system, the Cardinals would have had little time to select a new Pope between 15 March and the 24 March beginning of Holy Week leading up to Easter.

But there are plenty of indications that Benedict wants no power vacuum left in his wake.  Two scandals have bubbled over since he announced his resignation:  Published reports claim that Benedict resigned shortly after being handed an internal report detailing a Gay Sex and Financial scandal in the Vatican; and the UK’s highest ranking Catholic Cardinal Keith O’Brien announced he is stepping down and not joining the conclave after he was accused of impropriety with priests serving under him.