But in a last-minute surprise, the Vatican instructed the bishops to delay voting on a package of corrective measures until next year, when Pope Francis plans to hold a summit in Rome on the sexual abuse crisis for bishops from around the world.

“I am sorry for the late notice, but in fact, this was conveyed to me late yesterday afternoon,” said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “Although I am disappointed, I remain hopeful that this additional consultation will ultimately improve our response to the crisis we face.”

For nearly three decades and three papacies, the United States has been the focal point of the abuse crisis, and the American bishops have been pushed to the forefront of the church’s response. But the Vatican has sometimes applied the brakes when the Americans have tried to take steps that have not been adopted by the global church.

The delay was immediately denounced Monday by abuse survivors and advocates who had traveled to Baltimore to put pressure on bishops to take action.

“This is a disaster, and I think it’s a dark day for Catholics, especially victims and survivors,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a research and advocacy group based in Boston. “When the Vatican intervenes, regulations get weaker, not stronger.”

The initiatives that the American bishops had planned to debate and vote on in Baltimore included creating a hotline for reporting cases of sex abuse, a lay review board to hear allegations against bishops, and a mechanism to permanently sideline bishops who are judged to be abusers themselves.

DiNardo said at a news conference that he did not know whether Pope Francis himself had requested the delay.

The New York Times

Laurie Goodstein © 2018 The New York Times