U.S. bishops have postponed a vote on measures to respond to the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church at the insistence of the pope.
They are convening this week at the three-day U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Fall General Assembly in Baltimore.
A prior statement said the assembly would vote on "a series of concrete measures to respond to the abuse crisis ... such as a third-party reporting mechanism, standards of conduct for bishops, and protocols for bishops resigned or removed because of abuse."
But in his opening address, conference president Cardinal Daniel DiNardo announced that, at the insistence of the Vatican, the assembly won't vote on measures involving the abuse crisis.
"The Holy See has asked that we delay voting on these so that our deliberations can inform and be informed by the global meeting of the conference presidents that the Holy Father has called for February 2019," DiNardo said.
Pope Francis announced in September he would hold the summit with other top Church officials next year to discuss preventing clergy sex abuse. Later that month, he said the Catholic Church needs to change. And in August, the pope issued a letter to all Catholics condemning sexual abuse by priests, as well as its cover-up.
The assembly comes after a series of sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church. Multiple recent reports have detailed abuse allegations against hundreds of Catholic clergymen across the country.
