Cardinals agree to ban media interviews

Houston Chronicle reported The unanimous vote today by 130 cardinals to maintain public silence was unprecedented. But in an era of continuous news updates and constant speculation, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls called the media ban an "act of responsibility."

He asked journalists not to ask the cardinals for interviews and said they should not take the prelates' silence as an act of "discourtesy."

"The cardinals, after the funeral Mass of the Holy Father, began a more intense period of silence and prayer, in view of the conclave," Navarro-Valls said. "They unanimously decided to avoid interviews and encounters with the media."

This was a wise decision by the cardinals. I suspect many in the press were trying to influence the cardinals decision, and the cardinals should be listening to God, not to the press.

I am not Catholic, but I suspect many in the USA and Europe are going to be disappointed in the new Pope the cardinals will select. Many in the USA and Europe would like to see the Catholic Church lighten up on the strict discipline the John Paul II imposed, and they would like to see acceptance of abortion, a more lenient view of sexual orientation, and women becoming priests, but since John Paul II appointed almost all of the cardinals I suspect their selection will want to maintain the policies John Paul II believed in. Since church attendance has dropped of in the US and Europe I don't think they are likely to select a Pope that will cater to people that don't even attend Mass regularly. Rather I suspect the new Pope will come from the third world, where the largest increases in membership have come from -- either Latin America or Africa. But whereever the new Pope comes from, I don't expect the Cafeteria Catholics to approve of the selection.