FEMINIST groups joined Argentinian Carmelite nuns in protest today after a court hearing into allegations of psychological and physical violence by Archbishop of Salta Mario Antonio Cargnello was postponed indefinitely.

Mr Cargnello’s defence lawyer said he would not be in Buenos Aires for the hearing as he was attending an episcopal conference, and the court cancelled the session without naming a new date.

Eighteen nuns from the San Bernardo Convent in Salta also filed a judicial complaint last month against priest Father Lucio Ajalla and a papal envoy originally sent in by the Pope to deal with their complaints, Bishop Martin de Elizalde.

Most of their allegations are subject to a court order of silence, but one named includes Mr Cargnello and Fr Ajalla hitting a nun at the funeral of one of the sisters as they tried to make her drop her camera.

They objected to the presence of an image of the Madonna del Cerro, revered by the nuns as a 1990s saintly visitation but which the archbishop regards as fraudulent.