In Washington there is also speculation as to whether President Bush could extend a pre-emptive pardon to those officials who carried out the harsh interrogation techniques on terrorist suspects.

BBC: Dilemmas of US presidential pardons

In their declaration, prompted by the pope's pre-millennium call to local churches to ask for pardon for misdeeds committed during the course of the church's history, the French bishops seek to place the church's actions between 1940 and 1945 in a historical context.

ECONOMIST: France