They have also criticised the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) for "allowing Indonesia into their fold".

In a statement, the Suva-based Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) said it had noted with deepening concern the humanitarian conflict in West Papua and the continued abuse of human rights perpetrated by the Indonesian security forces.

"This situation has been worsened in particular by the silencing of dissenting voices through increased military presence and suspension of electronic communication," it said.

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This is how conservative Catholic columnist George Weigel, writing in the National Review Online, describes the media blackout on Cardinals that came into force yesterday.

In the name of transparency, U.S. cardinals had held a series of parallel news briefings with the press on the issues relating to the Conclave.

The move to stop US Cardinals talking with media came like a 'slap in the face in the midst of the Synod Hall' reports Italian daily, La Stampa,

La Stampa reports that after eight years of mutual hostility towards each other the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano and the Camerlengo, Cardinal Bertone, yesterday, combined to stop the US cardinals talking in an open and transparent way.

Like Weigel, respected Vatican journalist and author, John Tharvis is similarly baffled.

But, writing in his Vatican Diary, he is not surprised that the day after the media blackout, the Italian papers were chock full of unsourced details from the cardinals' closed-door general congregation meetings, notes.

Tharvis says La Stampa was full of

• Cardinal Fernando Filoni, the Italian head of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, gave a global report on missionary challenges.
• Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, the Italian head of the Congregation for Clergy, weighed in with an overview on the priesthood and vocations.
• Italian Cardinal Camillo Ruini spoke about the need to choose a younger pope with sufficient energy.
• Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet and U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, both Roman Curia officials, talked about the figure and role of "pope emeritus."
• The paper also noted Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola went over the five-minute limit in his talk on the nature of the church.

Calling the American Cardinals' press conferences "the most refreshing and media-friendly source of positive information and commentary on a story that has riveted the world's attention," Weigel wants to know how Italian Daily, La Stampa, is able to print verbatim reports from the Cardinals' meeting.

In rather strong terms, Weigel says Vatican master spin doctor, Fr Federico Lombardi's explanation of the media blackout is "Baloney and not very artful baloney".

Weigel calls the blackout a missed opportunity to explain what the Catholic Church is.

Today at his media conference, Vatican Spokesman Federico Lombardi said he does not accept that Italian cardinals are leaking information to Italian media.

Lombardi was responding to a question why the US cardinals, who did not leak, are paying for the sins of Italian cardinals who did and continue to leak.

Sources

• La Stampa
• National Review Online
• John Thavis
• Gerard O'Connell (Twitter)
• Lisa Wangsness (Twitter)
• Image The Guardian

An example is the question of why three of the four cardinal-electors with archdioceses in Germany were among the dozen who hadn't arrived in Rome Monday for the first day of general meetings to prepare for the conclave. They had had two weeks' notice and, unlike latecomers from places such as Vietnam, face no travel challenges.

Could it be that they were trying to postpone the opening of the conclave? Did they fear that Italian cardinals who work in the Vatican would try to rush the international cardinals into voting before they could identify a worthy candidate from outside the Vatican?

German Cardinal Walter Kasper, who is 80 but voting because his birthday fell after Pope Benedict stepped down on Thursday, could be construed as hinting at this in remarks to the Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper.

"We need time to get to know one another," he said. "A papal election is not something you should rush."

Cardinal Kasper is president emeritus of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, where he was known as an ally of diocesan bishops who felt they weren't getting a fair hearing in other Vatican offices. Was he still running interference for them? Continue reading