ROME – The cardinals are expected to avoid giving any interviews in the nine days between the Pope’s funeral on Friday and the election of his successor, it emerged yesterday.

Even before the funeral, they agreed not to divulge opinions or preferences that could sway the outcome of the conclave, which will begin on April 18.

The new consensus to keep the media at arm’s length was reached at yesterday’s meeting of the general congregation of all the cardinals now in Rome.

Many cardinals have been alarmed by the enormous press presence in the Italian capital, which they fear could taint the solemn process of electing the next pope.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, was at the Vatican meeting. He said the agreement was “not set in stone.”

But he added that the cardinals had felt that the time in the run-up to the conclave, in which they remain in isolation until they have chosen a successor to John Paul II, should be one of “prayer and reflection.”

He said: “If there is a reticence on the part of the cardinals after the funeral, that is because we will be in a period of quiet. There are plenty of people talking to the media. The cardinals have to concentrate on prayer.”

Support is growing for a younger candidate as the next pope, who would undertake to serve only a fixed term that could be as little as 10 years.

It is understood that some cardinals are wary of electing an elderly, transitional pope but are equally anxious to avoid another prolonged papacy, the likely result if they choose a younger candidate.

The cardinals cannot impose a retirement date on the next pope. But they could elect someone they were confident would carry out their collective will.

As well as deciding the date for the secret vote in the Sistine Chapel, the cardinals read John Paul II’s last will and testament, which will be made public today.

The 15-page will, updated throughout his papacy, was described by the Vatican as a spiritual rather than a legal document.