American cardinals flew home today to try to regain the support of US Catholics after unprecedented talks at the Vatican.
The cardinals, summoned by Pope John Paul, ended two days of meeting last night and held a news conference whose two-and-a-half hour delay underscored divisions.
At the end of the watershed meetings, they came up with a proposal for a two-track process for dismissing paedophile priests depending on whether they are repeat offenders or not.
Despite earlier indications, the cardinals shied away from immediately introducing a zero-tolerance policy for first-time sex offenders, delaying a final decision until their twice-annual meeting in June.
Their first proposal called for a special process "for the dismissal from the clerical state of a priest who has become notorious and is guilty of the serial, predatory, sexual abuse of minors".
The other proposal appeared to offer leeway for one-time offenders. It called for "a special process for cases which are not notorious but where the diocesan bishop considers the priest a threat for the protection of children and young people, in order to avoid grave scandal in the future and to safeguard the common good of the Church". "We realise this is going to be tough but we are determined to do it," said Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore.
"We could not have done better to prepare for what we have to do. We feel strengthened by our meetings with the Pope and the encouragement he has given us," he said.