Cardinals putting lid on interviews

VATICAN CITY, April 9 (UPI) -- Vatican leaders are taking steps to quell speculation about who will succeed Pope John Paul II as head of the 1.1 billion-member Roman Catholic Church.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who served as Pope John Paul II's doctrinal watchdog, asked cardinals this week to stop talking to journalists amid reported complaints from lesser-known cardinals that their more popular brethren might benefit from such exposure, Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper reported Saturday.

Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida, for example, gave what he described as a final round of interviews with reporters before moving into a week of self-imposed silence before the conclave's scheduled start April 18, the Detroit News said.

Meanwhile, a controversy swirled around Cardinal Bernard Law, the former Boston bishop who will officiate at one of the Vatican's services being held in mourning the pope.

Law was forced to leave office after revelations of his role in protecting sexually abusive priests. He will celebrate one of the nine daily masses that bridge Friday's papal funeral and the conclave.