The Catholic Church has an opportunity to begin to excise the "cancer" of sex abuse under its new pope, a US victim who just won a $1 million settlement and his lawyer said Thursday. Michael Duran, who says he was raped repeatedly by a Californian priest in the mid-1980s, urged Pope Francis to defrock Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, one of those who chose the new pontiff, for allegedly covering up abuse.

A new plume of black smoke over the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday indicated that Catholic cardinals had failed, after three rounds of voting, to elect a new leader for their 1.2 billion-strong Church. The 115 cardinals had gone into seclusion on Tuesday to find a successor to Benedict XVI, who brought a troubled eight-year papacy to an abrupt end by resigning last month aged 85. The black smoke -- a signal given not after each failed vote but after every two such rounds -- indicated that no one had gained the two-thirds majority needed to become the 266th pope.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay nearly $10 million to four men who alleged they were molested by a former priest in the 1970s, their lawyers said Tuesday. Settlements were reached this month between lawyers for the men, the former priest involved, and LA's Cardinal Roger Mahony, who is taking part in the conclave to choose a new pope despite protests from victims.

By Brandon Lowrey LOS ANGELES, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Roman Catholic activists on Saturday petitioned a U.S. cardinal to recuse himself from taking part in selecting a new pope so as not to insult survivors of sexual abuse by priests committed while he was archbishop of Los Angeles. The activists delivered a petition with nearly 10,000 signatures to the North Hollywood church where Cardinal Roger Mahony resides.