Pope Francis has temporarily suspended efforts by the United States bishops to address the issue of clerical sex abuse, ordering them to wait until he can meet with them in February together with the presidents of other national bishops’ conferences from around the world.
The U.S. bishops are currently gathered in Baltimore, Maryland, for their annual fall meeting, which was to focus on dealing with the sex abuse crisis. During the opening session of the meeting Monday morning, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the president of the bishops’ conference (USCCB), informed the assembly that he had been contacted by the Holy See on Sunday afternoon with instructions not to move forward with a vote on several concrete measures to respond to the abuse crisis.
